


Hazing Online

by sifshadowheart



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Sword Art Online
Genre: Alternate Battle of Department of Mysteries, Alternate Harry Potter Timeline, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Harry Potter Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-Slash, Sirius Lives, Slash, VRMMORPG
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2019-05-07 22:34:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14680851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sifshadowheart/pseuds/sifshadowheart
Summary: It would be good for you they said.  It will help get you back to being social they said.  It will help you make new friends they said.  "They" were full of shit.  There was nothing about being stuck - literally - in another Death Game that was good for him.  Or so Harry thought anyway...





	1. Prologue

** Hazing Online **

**A Sword Art Online/Harry Potter Crossover**

**_By Sif Shadowheart_ **

Disclaimer:  I honestly don’t have a clue who has rights to any of the SAO stuff, while HP obviously isn’t mine.  This is fanfiction, etc.

_Author’s Note:  I make no apologies for the many, many rabbit holes my muse is currently leading me down.  I know a little about SAO (mostly wiki-provided), a lot about HP, and quite a bit about how MMORPGs work so I’m hoping that carries me through.  I couldn’t find any great information about leveling or how the class system works or some of the game mechanics in SAO so I’m taking my best shot at this without that and building as I go.  That said, my usual SLASH warning applies with a set pairing of Kirito/Harry._

_Also, SAO is set in the beginning in November of 2022, so HP events are moved forward in time to match Harry’s age of fifteen post Battle of the Department of Mysteries where we’ll pretend Sirius didn’t die and Voldemort_ did _, making him sixteen at the beginning of the story._

**Prologue: Paved with Good Intentions**

_November 6, 2022; Town of Beginning, 1 st Floor, Aincrad, Sword Art Online VRMMORPG; 2200 In-Game_

“Fuck me sideways.”  Harry muttered, scowling with livid-fire green eyes up at the monologuing talking cloak creator of the new game he’d been talked into trying called Sword Art Online by his best-friend, Ron insisting that as he and his brothers, with help and inspiration from Hermione and a bit of financial help from his dogfathers, had gotten the NerveGear for him for his birthday, that he _had_ to at least try it out before passing it off to George or another friend, complete with _somehow, he was thinking throwing his name around with his Gringotts investment contacts,_ a pre-order of the game Sword Art Online which at that point wasn’t even in beta-testing yet.  “Ron, what did you get me _into…_ ”

…

_July 31, 2022; Grimmauld Place, London_

Harry stared unblinking down at the gunmetal grey helmet with wires sprouting off of it as his friends and godfathers watched with bated breath, before giving in.

“Um…”  He looked up at Hermione, knowing that anything _that_ tech-related was likely her doing, what with wizarding purebloods like Ron and George still struggling with the idea of a television with an Atari attached, let alone anything this advanced.  Honestly, if it wasn’t for her helping him figure out the right wards for his new “game-room” that he’d added in a fit of desperation-laced remodeling after the battle as part of his St. Mungo’s-mandated therapy, Sirius right beside him with sledge in hand, he would still probably be right there with them only with IPhones being the pinnacle of his tech-knowledge.  “What is it?”

“It’s a VR helmet, Harry.”  Hermione explained with an amused quirk of her lips.  “Called NerveGear, and a pre-order of that company’s first virtual reality massively multiplayer online role-playing game they’re calling Sword Art Online.”  The more she spoke, the more Harry got the feeling that he’d gotten this gift so she could come over when Ron was training with Mad-Eye for future Aurorship and she was off from her own mad study schedule to play with it, all three of them given a gap-year to recover from the battle along with Neville, Luna, and Ginny as some were a bit more _damaged_ than others.  “It starts beta-testing soon and is set to release officially the first week of November.”

“Do you have _any_ idea how long it’s been since I played even a regular MMORPG, Hermione?”  Harry asked drily.  “And even that was older games like the original GuildWars, nothing like what you’re talking about with… _this_.”  He held up the helmet with it’s green eye-shield-screen-thing for emphasis.

“We all think it’s a good idea for you to at least try it out, mate.”  Ron jumped in when Hermione sat back with a huff.  “You can’t just hang out here with Sirius and Remus all day watching the telly and reading dusty old books from the Black Library.”

“Hey!”  Harry protested.  “I go out.”

Sort of.

“Running miles on a treadmill at the dingy gym two blocks over before stopping for curry doesn’t count, Harry.  And neither does meeting with your investment manager at Gringotts.”  Hermione shot that down without mercy.  “When was the last time you _spoke_ to someone besides us.”  She held up a hand when he opened his mouth.  “No, the rest of the Weasleys and Hedwig do _not_ count for the purposes of this question.”

Harry traded and amused-but-resigned glance with her boyfriend.

“Can you tell she’s going into law, mate?”

“Yep.”  Ron told him cheerfully, popping another cupcake courtesy of his mum into his mouth and chewing noisily.  “That’s why it’d be barmy to argue with her on this one.”

And that was that.

…

_November 6, 2022; 0500; Grimmauld Place, London_

That being that didn’t make him any more _excited_ to try the game – one that required actual participation from him rather than just a few clicks of a mouse, and he hadn’t even started playing yet since the game didn’t “open” until 1300 on the sixth in Tokyo, despite him doing a few “full-dive” immersions in the slim-pickings of NerveGear VR games – when the countdown had begun.

Nonetheless – to stave off badgering if naught else – Harry spent the prior day setting up his SAO profile with minimum effort: male, just-got-laid black hair, emerald green eyes, golden-tan skin, five-eight, same build.  Basically, him without the scars covering a good chunk of his body.  There were more than a few clothing options, but again, he went simple: white t-shirt, blue zip-up hoody, tan cargo trousers with lots of room for odds-and-ends, sturdy brown belt, boots, gloves, and pack, plus plain “standard” pants and socks, and he wished he was done.

Not even _close_.

Beyond that was choosing a name, which came off the record playing low in the background “Haze” which also doubled as a nickname for Harry…at least in England.

That way he might only be one of a dozen Hazes running around instead of a hundred Harrys if the others were having his same problems of effort versus originality – he rather doubted it.

Unsurprising for a game called “Sword Art Online” he was allowed to choose from a couple of basic swords to start out with – “Um, curved, I guess?” – and equip his first two skills, all of this completed after having to do a half-dozen “calibration” exercises to get him used to wearing the VR headset.

At least the skills were easy enough: choosing a curved sword gave him a sword attack called “Reaver” and starting out there were only a couple other basics to choose from without “unlocking” them according to the gamer’s guide that came with the purchase.

And Harry being Harry, with his ability to find trouble or have trouble find him, he was going to have that handy Searching skill on _all the time_ so at least he’d get a bit of warning about the monsters headed his way.

Then the time came, Harry laid back on his bed, and gave the command.

“Link Start.”

…

_Town of Beginnings, Aincrad, SA0; 0005 Game-Time_

Alright, Harry had to admit, the creators of this game had made it beyond beautiful with colors so vivid and different than he was used to that he was reminded – sharply – of the first time he set foot in Diagon Alley with Hagrid waving him on: distinctly _alive_.

Which he enjoyed the irony of given that everything at the moment was all in his head.

Or in a server…or something.

Regardless, he decided as he moved through the bustling town of NPCs and players who were either forming up groups based on outside real-life friendships or just in shared excitement, it was a whole new world of possibilities, one he found himself excited – if despite himself – to explore without the worry or danger of imminent death.

Having chosen a better-quality belt and boots over an extra item like a dagger or a shield, Harry made for the merchant NPCs he located on his map, quirking a bit of a grin when he found that he’d gained plus-twelve experience for using his “Searching” skill.

And if he stuck to his ground-in habits of being a spend-thrift by snagging some fruit from one of the trees to tuck away for later that he knew was “edible” for his avatar from the game guide that was no one’s business but his…and the other players who saw him do it and promptly mimicked him.

Smart kids.

Not that he _knew_ they were kids…but he was having a bit of a problem separating his own beliefs about who played these kinds of games from the reality of not being able to _tell_ thanks to the avatars being able to be fashioned near any age, look, or gender a player wanted.

Still, as minutes clicked by, the town began to fill with more and more players, and Harry had zero intention of being stuck with the pre-release estimate of ten-thousand gawking, talking, _people_ – VR or not – when there was a whole world to explore.

And with that firmly in mind, Harry set out onto the plains surrounding the town, breaking easily into a soft lope with his curved sword – a scimitar, he thought – only bouncing a bit from where it was sheathed at his hip.  At least he was an adult and didn’t have to worry about his weaponry being too big to manage.  He’d spotted more than one avatar in town before he set off that would barely hit his sternum.  _Why_ they’d made themselves that small he had no earthly idea.  Unless it came down to him basically being lazy and making himself, _himself_ , only with the tyke-sized players sticking to their own dimensions.

If that was the case, at least it wouldn’t be hard to pick out the kids who due to age or preference had the Moral Conduct mod turned on.

Harry himself _liked_ being able to swear, _thank-you-very-fucking-much_ , even if he wasn’t all that interested in the Relationship, Sex, or Marriage aspects of the game.

Harry wasn’t more than a few yards from the town wall, just on the other side of the “Safe” area, when the pixelating air had a dark grin springing onto his face.

It was time to see just how _realistic_ combat was…against something he had zero guilt about destroying at that.

…

A few hours and levels later, Harry had to admit – grinding and farming experience was so much more fun, if just as monotonous, in VR.

It took him about forty kills to make level two from the basic pissed-off-pig monsters that wandered the plains outside of the two, and by that time there were more and more players moving on from the hug-exclaim-befriend cycle going on as more and more players logged on.

Which meant it was time for him to take off…again, after a bit of a rest, a piece of fruit, and a regeneration/healing potion that took a few minutes to kick in.

Harry appreciated the basic Steel Scimitar that one of the hogs had dropped in lieu of random junk to sell to merchants or for use in crafting (something _he_ wasn’t much interested in but he knew appealed to some people) or “cor” the currency used in Aincrad, especially as said steel scimitar had double the stats of the truly-crappy basic bronze scimitar he’d started with.

More grinding and farming later and Harry was almost out of his regen potions and coming up on a full inventory but he’d avoided the other players – he _really_ liked that Searching skill – and was one quest away from hitting level six and getting his third skill slot opened…he was thinking _Hiding_.

If Hermione – or Merlin forbid, his mind healer – were here they’d be scolding him over managing to be antisocial in a social game…but meh.

It was only the first day of the launch, just coming up on half-way.

There was _plenty_ of time to – blech – _be social_ later since this game wasn’t _all_ bad, with him having unlocked a dozen or so skills just from wandering and killing shit.

Not that he could _use_ said skills without losing his progress on his Curved Sword and Searching skill but…still.

Effort counted, right?

Needless to say, Harry was in a surprisingly good – if tired – mood…which was when it all came crashing down courtesy of a forced-teleport back to the Room of Resurrection and a motherfucking megalomaniac.

Because he hadn’t dealt with enough of _those_ yet in his life.

This wanker was apparently the creator of the game.

And the only way to escape it was by _winning_ it.

Win, and you win your life.

Lose, and they’re all stuck in Aincrad or dead in real life.

“Fuck me sideways.”  He seethed, eyes glaring even as he did what his well-honed instincts were _screaming_ at him to do and turned and started running for outside the town.  “What the fuck did I get into…?”

…

As the noise rose – and the hysteria with it – in his wake, Harry having gotten the gist of Captain-Talking-Head’s dastardly speech, Harry noted that he wasn’t the only one realizing the danger of both a hysterical crowd and well, _people in general_ , as all around people were breaking off and getting away from the overcrowded room – and the town with it.

Most were behind him, Harry not one to stick around until the other shoe dropped no matter how exhausted he already was, but there were a few ahead as well, Harry coming up on them as one pair in the lead of him in the direction of where he’d pinged a town earlier but not visited towards the northwest came to a stop, Harry slowing down just enough to catch what one was saying to the other – god, they were younger than him and stuck in a death game – the black-haired boy speaking in accented English to the other.

Harry idly was thankful he’d ordered Dobby not to let anyone disturb him and had kept his headset plugged in, not able to wander far in the magic-rich environs of Grimmauld Place.

At least the House Elf _should_ be able to keep Sirius from doing anything… _rash_ until the cooler-head of Remus could prevail.

“I have friends here, Kirito.”  The older one was explaining.  “If this is- if this is _it_ for now, I want to be with them.”

“Ok, Klein.”  The younger one with black hair nodded and stepped back, voice shaking despite his calm face.  “Keep in touch, I’ll be around if you need more help.”

“Thanks, Kirito.”

The two waved and then Harry pounced.

“Hey.”  He said, his English accent coming through loud and clear, pegging the other black-haired teen as from an Asian country from his accent, though he didn’t know them well enough to sort it out further than that.  “You heading out of town too?”

The boy nodded, eyes narrowed a bit on the older teen with eyes so green he’d think they were still his avatar’s render if not for knowing that his own features had changed back to his actual looks thanks to the game creator’s “gift”…though he, Kirito, didn’t have the scars to pop into being on his avatar that the older teen did.

Whoever he was in real life, he’d have to be tough, especially with the jagged – almost lightning-like – scar that started near his hairline over his left eye and ended on his left cheekbone, just missing one emerald green orb and its eyelids.

“Hai, yes.”  Kirito corrected himself, even as he fell into pace with the other teen’s stride, the pair speeding up to a jog as they headed for the northwest gate of the town.  “Panic is…dangerous.”

Well, it was _now_.

“There’s a village I found earlier about an hour’s jog from here, maybe twice that if we have to slow down or fight monsters.”  Harry continued, explaining his sudden bout of _friendliness_ to himself as much as Kirito.  Personally…he thought it had as much to do with the innocent young face that looked like it’d never seen a day’s tragedy as it did anything else.

Damn saving-people-thing.

 _Always_ rearing its ugly head at the worst damn times.

“Want to team up to make it there?”  He asked.  “I logged in straight-away and now I’m pretty spent.”

“Sounds…smart.”  Kirito had to admit, given that he’d done the same…though by the look of the non-basic scimitar on the other teen’s hip, this guy hadn’t spent the hours in-between helping out a rookie, whether he was one himself or not.  “I’m Kirito.”  So saying he flicked his hand and brought up the Party control screen.

“Haze.”  The older teen supplied, blinking a bit when his screen pinged with the message:

_Player Kirito would like to form a Party._

_Accept     Decline_

A flick of his finger had him hitting the “O” to accept the party invitation, and with that the two of them jogged for the village Harry’d spotted, speaking now and then with Harry helping his new party-mate with a bit of English now and again as they made idle conversation to help pass the time, Harry learning that he’d made a better choice than he’d known, his instincts carrying over well so far from real life to his now VR-trapped-reality.

Kirito was a beta.

He _knew_ Aincrad.

Harry’s chances of surviving his newest megalomaniac just became that much better.

 


	2. Day One

** Hazing Online **

Author’s Note: From here on out, the chapter numbering is going to seem wonky.  That’s because each chapter title “number” will be the day number after the launch/being trapped in SAO.  Right now, we’re on the first day.

Also, I know a lot of the game mechanics aren’t right.  That’s because the way game mechanics were set-up for SAO drives me freaking crazy.  So I’m making it that you can equip weapons and _not_ have to have to waste a skill slot on “Dagger Skill” or “One-Handed Sword Skill” and that you can have different skill sets: one for town and one for adventuring that don’t reset the equipped skills with the player manually switching between the two “sets” depending on their needs, with the ability to unlock further sets with special quests or leveling.

For example: while in town you could equip cooking, fishing, mixing, blacksmithing, etc. then when adventuring switch all of _those_ over to weapon skills like Parry or Shield.

I’ve also added character attributes and am working on fleshing out classes/professions.

Mkay?

Mkay.

**1**

_Day One, Horunka Village, 1 st Floor Aincrad_

Harry woke up – which was a plus, Dobby must have successfully kept Sirius from doing anything _final_ with help from Remus – after about six hours of sleep which was a bit more than he usually needed being a chronic insomniac but given the stress of the prior day completely understandable.  A quick check of his menu showed that he was still partied with Kirito, which was also good news.  The other teen hadn’t kicked him from the party and disappeared while he slept at least.  Stumbling to his feet he rubbed his hands over his face and plodded along into the bathroom, since VR or not certain things had to be taken care of…which was just weird.

Being able to fuck and kiss and eat and drink in VR he got.

Having to shower?

Not so much.

Like he said: weird.

But it was his reality now until either the game was cleared or someone outside the game figured out a way to free them without pulling their plugs – figuratively or literally.

Feeling as awake as he was going to get, Harry got ready, munching his way through some more fruit from his inventory and water from the bathroom tap.

There were a couple things he needed to get through as quickly as possible: mainly making levels six and ten.

With the former he snagged another skill slot as well as the ability to switch between two different skill “sets”, designed for combat and non-combat so a player could have a full-experience in SAO instead of having to focus _just_ on crafting/lifestyle skills or adventuring/combat skills, while the latter unlocked the six secondary attributes with another six for a total of sixteen opening at level twenty-five.  Attributes were non-skill, non-item, game mods that helped determine how effective certain skills and interactions were based on what attributes a player spent attribute points from leveling or completing special quests on.  Attributes, skills, and player actions determined what classes were unlocked, if any, for a player.

And in a death game, the special “traits” that unlocked with selecting a class could very well save your life.

For his first attributes he’d dumped his four starter points in an even split between strength, precision/dexterity, agility, and vitality/constitution, but as he’d gained a point with each level and then four points for level five, he’d focused more on maxing precision and agility with the class he hoped to unlock…but now that it was a _death_ game, he’d need to focus maxing his vitality which increased his HP, making him harder to kill, a strategy any player with an active brain cell should apply since you can’t bump your speed and effectiveness of health regeneration until level twenty-five with the healing attribute unlock or by training up the Battle Healing skill.

Though he was certain there were going to be _some_ meat-heads that point-dumped on strength instead.

Harry was all for offense as a defense but first you needed an _actual_ defense, the best of which from what he could see was becoming as hard to kill as possible rather than becoming the best killer possible.

Not to say he wasn’t going to work on that too, but still, _priorities_.

His life may not have been _that_ exciting in recent months with his recovery and everything, but he’d like to return to living it none-the-fucking-less.

Setting off towards a lit “!” curser that was a quest NPC sitting on a fence rail at the edge of town he’d located with his Searching, he sent off a private message to Kirito, not wanting the other guy to think he’d taken off on him.  He’d pick up the quest and then hit the merchants to clear his inventory of the junk he’d accumulated the previous day, since it’d been maxed with the drops from the random dire wolves he and Kirito had run into on the trip from the Town of Beginnings to Horunka.

Though he had to say…revenge of the cows was one of the weirdest quests he’d ever heard of, moreover he now had all day to kill around town before the “attack” at moonrise.

Maybe Kirito knew another quick quest or two they could do while he waited.

And if not, there were always the simple dailies posted on the village announcement board.

…

Harry’d been right – all it took was a single quest, in his case a simple “kill five dire wolves and collect their pelts”, to hit level six, a quest that took most of the hour between him nabbing the low-hanging quests like the dailies off the village board and the cow quest and Kirito waking up.  He’d just selected his third combat/adventuring skill of Hiding, as some skills that didn’t necessarily _seem_ like combat skills (Searching, Hiding, Sneaking, Sprint, etc.) were classed that way because of their uses in adventuring being way above that of, say, fishing or metal refining.  Harry had _known_ of course that there was an almost unlimited number of skills but having them pop up as “unlocked” all over the place as he went about his day was nuts.  Though he thought it would slow down after he got the first set of natural-action skills unlocked like cooking.

For his part, he was starting his second set of skills as a strict safe-area set with Map-Making, Swimming, and Mixing, the latter being the SAO version of potion-making and useful for crafting poisons, medicine, and antidotes.

And like most-everything else, items crafted by a skilled player were _always_ better than what was purchased or dropped from a NPC or a monster.

Kirito’s PM popped up on his left-hand side in mid-air in the form of a floating envelope which Harry had to tap with his finger to open and read.

Thankfully, SAO came with a written-language translator or else he’d be _screwed_ given the massive percentage of players that were from Nippon where Argus, the creator of both NerveGear and SAO were headquartered.

As it was, his English should get him through most situations, or at least it should a lot more effectively than his bare-bones public-school and Fleur-practiced French.

_Ready to go?  I know a Quest that rewards an <Anneal Blade>._

Harry hummed, debating after taking a look at the weapon stats.

It was a one-handed straight sword, not his preference, but it had _good_ stats so he could trade it for a better scimitar, saber, katana, or kopesh he supposed, not wanting to lose his progress on his Reaver skill that came with using a curved sword.

_Ready when you are.  Need to be back at moonrise for <Quest: Cows Counterattack>._

He replied, jogging over towards the inn where he spotted Kirito waiting patiently, leaning back against the wall and arms crossed over his chest.

“There you are, Haze-kun.”  Kirito nodded, pushing off the wall with his shoulders with a half-smile.  “Sleep well?”

“Better than expected, Kirito-kun.”  Harry drawled with a rolled of his expressive green eyes, the Nippon-born teen having given him a crash-course on honorifics to go with his bare-bones backstory.  Not that Harry had been any better.  Until it became relevant he had zero intention of telling anyone, even a possible friend, about him being the equivalent of a child soldier and defense tutor in his real life.

And then there was the magic thing.

Yeah, he didn’t see himself becoming Mr. Shares-a-Lot, and that was before SAO turned into a Death Game.

“You?”

Kirito shrugged then led the way to one of the village houses, explaining as he went.

“This is one of the quests you have to interact with the NPC before they show a quest curser.”  He told the older teen.  “The mother will offer you a cup of water.  If you accept then she goes into the quest dialogue.”  He grimaced.  “This one is tedious.  During the beta I figured the drop rate of the quest item needed for completion at less than one percent.  As soon as the chaos dies down the other players are going to start swarming it since the Anneal Blade is probably still the best weapons drop on the first level.”

“What level monsters?”

“Little Nepenthes which are actually big and ugly plant monsters.”  Kirito wrinkled his nose.  “Level Three.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem.”  Harry shrugged.  He wouldn’t get much leveling gain with partying as the Cardinal game control AI system parceled out exp, drops, and cor between them based on each player’s damage dealt to a monster, so Harry would be lucky to score even a couple points off a Level 3 monster.  And being a higher level, he would need more exp than Kirito to gain his next level up, but the reward exp and sword should make it worth it.  “Nothing we can’t handle.”

The leveling system was simple: you gained experience for every kill, plus bonus experience for completing quests or working on skills.  Each level required an increased amount of experience to reach the next level up, while simultaneously you received a decreased amount of experience for killing monsters that were below your own level even as the amount of cor and quality of drops remained the same.  For example: Harry wouldn’t receive any experience at this point for killing a basic level 1 <Frenzy Boar> but would still get the 30 cor and whatever junk it dropped.  It was a game mechanic that helped protect weaker players by forcing stronger players to hunt stronger monsters…in theory.

Now that it was a Death Game…Harry didn’t think _anything_ was going to work the way it had been designed anymore.

Kirito nodded, giving him a searching look.

Haze-kun was an interesting one, that was certain.  He’d noticed his calm straight off during the Game Maker’s speech, him and another much older man had been two of the only players he’d seen staying collected despite the institution of the Death Game, though in Haze-kun’s case his inner anger had shone in his eyes, which had still been hot with anger when he’d caught up to him and Klein before leaving town.  It was that – that calm steadiness – that had encouraged Kirito, normally not the most social of players, to accept Haze-kun’s proposal of teaming up.

Kirito knew that the only way to survive was to get as strong as he could as fast as he could.

He wasn’t able – or maybe just wasn’t willing – to take on three new players with Klein and his other two friends.

Haze however…he hadn’t wasted his time in Aincrad, already leveling several times before the announcement.

And Haze-kun had more than held his own the prior night on their jog to Horunka, his mechanics a little rough but his level and skill suggesting either prior experience with the NerveGear or something else that made him a good natural fighter, fencing or kendo maybe.

He also wasn’t flashy – either in dress or in talk – something Kirito appreciated in a party member.

Yes, Kirito thought that Haze-kun had been worth the risk inherent in partying with him, and wouldn’t hold him back from leveling as fast as possible to survive.

If anything…he might just push him to be better, to match him, rather than get stuck in a rut on his own.

Either way, Kirito was interested to find out, even if that interest was still tinged with the soul-deep fear for his life that the Game Maker’s announcement had sent spiraling through most if not all of the SAO players a handful of hours ago.

…

The quest acquisition went exactly as Kirito had said, something which Harry took under consideration.  He didn’t know how high Kirito had leveled or what floor he’d gotten to during the beta, but for now his information and knowledge were trustworthy enough.  Though given that Kirito hadn’t _known_ that the village Harry was leading him to was Horunka, he knew that at least the layout of the floors was different than the beta, making him wonder how much _else_ was changed and how useful the beta’s knowledge would be in the long run – or perhaps he should say how _accurate_ rather than useful.

Harry’s supposition about the lack of exp he gained from killing the quest monsters was accurate as well, only netting four exp points per Little Nepenthes that they took out.  But since they ended up having to kill almost a hundred of the damn things before the one with the flower populated, he ended up with another near-full inventory from the random drops off the ugly plant monsters anyway.  The flower-bearing monster hadn’t populated alone however, bringing a buddy along with what looked like a fruit, Harry’s well-honed danger instincts telling him to stay well-the-fuck-away from the fruit.

“Go get your seed, Kirito-kun.”  Harry told him.  “I’ll keep the other one busy.”

“Thanks, Haze-kun.”  Kirito smiled brightly at him, his cheerful demeanor at odds with the killing machine he’d been when facing off against any of the monsters they’d fought together.

Yeah, Harry thought he’d made the right choice with Kirito.

Didn’t mean he wanted to guild-up with him or be attached at the hip, but at least if there was a quest that was better managed by more than a solo player they would each have a friend to call on for help.

Kirito took up his unique opening stance, and Harry squared off with the fruit-head, both dodging almost in unison to engage one of the plant monsters, Harry sticking to body blows since he knew he didn’t want to damage that fruit even if he didn’t know _why_.

His new friend might not be on the same level as Harry – not yet – but it didn’t take the experienced player long to take out the flower-bearing Little Nepenthes, which like the fruit-head when Harry used his Searching skill as they darted out of the other’s engagement range he’d think was a level four monster instead of a level three, a thought which was born out by Harry’s increase of eight exp instead of four, with extra cor and a better drop to go with the quest item of the <Little Nepenthes Seed>.

“Why didn’t you kill the other one?”  Kirito asked, head cocked to the side in a – though Harry wouldn’t say it knowing how defensive he used to be about his own height and pretty-boy looks – cute kittenish fashion.

“Something felt off about it.”  Harry explained.  “Over the years I’ve learned to listen to my gut when it tugs at me in a potentially dangerous situation.  And it wasn’t like we needed it for the quest anyway.”

“Whatever you say, Haze-kun.”  Kirito agreed, willing to trust the other fighter.  He’d yet to be wrong about coming across monsters and mobs so far.  “Ready to go get our rewards?”

“Mmm.”  Harry nodded, falling into jog-step with the shorter boy.  “Someone will be willing to trade it for a katana or some other curved blade I’m sure.  And if not I can always refine it and repurpose the metal.”

Kirito rolled his eyes.

One day in and Haze-kun was already stuck on a single sword type.

Well, some players were just that way he supposed.

For himself he’d tried them all during the beta and liked his one-handed straight swords the best.

To each his own.

…

Anneal Blade in hand – for Kirito, Harry having stashed his away until he could trade it or melt it down – and junk sold at the merchants, the two players focused on grinding in the fields and woods around Horunka until it started to drift towards twilight so they could complete Harry’s cow quest.

It might be a silly thing, but it awarded <Cream> as Kirito had enlightened Harry, which could either be consumed as a filling food item or used to fashion other foods with the Cooking skill.

The cows were again all level three monsters, barely worth either of their time now that Kirito had leveled to level five and Harry had made seven, but the bull at least was a single level five and Harry’s Last Strike furnished a drop of a decent <Steel Katana>.

It wasn’t anywhere near as nice as Kirito’s Anneal Blade, but it wasn’t awful either and unlocked a new set of Katana sword skills.

Quest rewards stashed away, junk again sold off and night falling, the pair made their way back to the inn where they’d earlier renewed their stay for another night.

A wise decision as they’d seen increasing movement in the area as players trickled away from the Town of Beginnings and started putting in work towards leveling and doing more than panicking with their new realities, making the small Horunka inn full-up for the night.

Over a simple dinner of Harry’s last remaining fruit and sandwiches purchased from the barmaid, the pair hashed out a plan to head off towards the boundary and work on power-leveling while searching for the first-floor Labyrinth.

Kirito knew it was supposed to be on the edge of the floor but not _where_ anymore given the changed floor layout.

“We meet-up at night with each other at whatever town we’re basing out of.”  Harry suggested, knowing that the other teen like him wasn’t always going to want to socialize, even if said socialization was little more than whacking away at monsters in silence.  “That way if we want to do quests that need more than one player we have a go-to.  But we’re free to solo adventures whenever we want: no strings and no commitments just taking it day by day.”

“Sounds good to me.”  Kirito agreed.  “Party leveling can seem safer, and it good for learning to work together for boss fights, but soloing gives better cor and drops plus the full experience points.”

“What’s the max level for each floor?”  Harry asked, figuring the beta would have some idea from his own runs through the game.

“Level twenty for the first floor, then another ten levels on each floor after with hard grinding.”  Kirito told him.  “If the Cardinal,” the game management AI system.  “Is still programmed that way.  Realistically once you hit level fifty it’ll be about a floor a level.  Without hard grinding you’re looking at four or five levels per floor and then one level every two to three floors after the tenth floor all depending on how long it takes to clear a floor.”

“We need to max level each floor if we want to survive this thing, don’t we?”  Harry asked with a wry grin.  “As you said: depending on how long it takes to clear a floor.”

Kirito just gave a solemn nod, then bid Haze-kun goodnight.

“You too, Kirito-kun.”  Harry told him as he stood, planning on getting in some minor non-combat skill leveling while he was awake.  He didn’t want to grind in the dark.  Not with other people starting to show up more and more.

Monsters were one thing.

People were another.

Well, he had a few new places to add to his Map for one skill, and a few ingredients he thought he could throw together for his mixing skill.

If all else failed…at least he’d probably have a poison to use on his sword blade if nothing else.

Maybe.

Probably.

He hoped.

…

And that was how things went for the next month.

They’d located the First Floor Labyrinth about two weeks into their trip circumnavigating the floor, though with their focus switching to trying to clear the dungeon, it took another day to find the nearest town which was called Tolbana.  Harry would go off one day to take a break from peopling, then Kirito would do the same a couple days later.  But they always kept in contact as they moved from settlement to settlement searching for the Labyrinth which held the Floor Boss room…if they could find it.

Kirito was game-smart, but Harry was _people_ smart.

At least when it came to how easy it was for people to turn on you and how even the nicest person – or so they seemed – could have a selfish core when it came to anything from survival to money to fame.

Kirito taught him about the game.

Harry taught Kirito about _people_ , the veteran gamer more naïve than Harry would have thought but then he and his friends weren’t exactly _normal_ kids, even if it took Ron and Hermione much longer than Harry to lose their childhood blinders, Ron’s surrounding Light Magic and Hermione’s regarding authority figures.

As Harry’d predicted, Kirito had caught up to him in leveling, the two neck-and-neck at level nineteen and straining to max out the floor, a prospect helped by the seemingly endless spawns of level twenty monsters in the labyrinth, both of them having gotten a reputation as “Clearers” players who were of higher-level and fought on the front lines clearing the floor, almost against their own wishes.

Kirito would message back and forth with Klein.

Harry worked on his skills, having added cooking to his non-combat set and the first of the Katana skills called Phantom Moon to his repertoire at level twelve, Katana being an “extra” skill that you had to unlock through using a curved blade and acquiring/equipping a katana from a drop, a piece of information that Kirito hadn’t been familiar with until Harry managed it.

Though he wasn’t the last to do it.

Just the first, a piece of information a knowledge-broker beta called Argo had been more than happy to purchase and pass on to other players.

As a Gryffindor, Harry probably should have just disseminated the information for free.

However, given that he wanted to survive to see his friends and family again, Harry’s Slytherin side had trapped, beaten-up, gagged, and hog-tied Harry’s inner Gryffindor and shoved it down into the deepest darkest recesses of his mind.

Though Slytherin-Harry was notably useless in doing the same with his Ravenclaw tendencies of learning all he could from Kirito and other experienced players or at keeping Hufflepuff-Harry from cooing – just a bit – over how _frigging cute_ some of the younger players like Argo with her painted-on whiskers and, yes, even Kirito could be.

On that day, day twenty-nine, Harry and Kirito split up after leaving their inn in Tolbana, the two trusting each other enough after most of a month spent in close company to share a double room to save Cor.

As Kirito headed back into the Labyrinth, Harry headed off towards a side-quest he’d found a couple days before that had struck his fancy.

It was a solo-only, which was interesting, with a minimum level of level fifteen to activate the quest from the NPC which was a random mare in a hidden glade of the nearby Shadow Forest.

Kirito was mildly interested in the quest but wasn’t familiar with what the unknown reward in the <Reward Chest> offered in lieu of a known reward or Cor was.  Harry had agreed to find out for them both…with the understanding that he was going to turn right around and sell the information to Argo after Kirito went to complete the quest himself.  They’d both heard rumblings and bitterness towards betas, something that Harry took great relish in shutting down every night when it inevitably came up over drinks at the inn tavern wherever they stayed unless they rented a room for the night from the random NPCs that rented rooms in their cottages, homes, or even barns to players.

Apparently, betas were all out for themselves.

How that made them _any fucking different_ from the rest of the players, Harry didn’t know, something he had to explain to Kirito more than once given the soft heart of the younger teen.

Thank Merlin they’d partnered up.

Harry didn’t like to think about how guilt-ridden and savior-complex Kirito would have gotten without a recovering guilt-and-savior-complex-addict there to head-slap some sense into him.

Broody _may_ have worked for the other boy as a look but as Harry had spent all of his fifth year excelling at it he knew it wouldn’t have been good for his morale.

Rolling his head on his neck, Harry looked up at the beautiful Aincrad sky then broke into an easy lope that would have him at the hidden glade in about an hour and a half from Tolbana.  The forest itself wasn’t easy to find, being hidden in a crack in a rock face that you had to squeeze through to access the butterfly NPC that opened a mini-dungeon you had to beat to access the Forest.  Kirito had known that part, leading Harry there to hunt <Savage Forest Spiders> in the mini-dungeon that led to a level eighteen boss <Savage Forest Spider Queen> who dropped a pair of <Venomous Throwing Picks> that he’d wanted that had a +4 Damage buff.  Harry had just been along for the ride but didn’t mind at all picking up a pair of black boots that had an Agility buff from the mini-dungeon boss.

That had been a week ago and ever since every-other day found Harry exploring the Shadow Forest leading to the discovery of the <Quest: Hidden Glade Herd> but he’d had to head back to Tolbana for the night before he could attempt the quest.

Harry was glad he didn’t have any _issues_ with confined spaces after ten years of living in a cupboard, since it was a tight squeeze through the rock face passage, Harry about the largest someone could be and make it through, Kirito having a lot less trouble when they’d done the mini-dungeon than Harry as the crack opened into a moderately-wide corridor that led to the  <Savage Forest Spider Nest> until you defeated the mini-dungeon boss of the spider queen and then afterward the far wall disappeared into an open cave mouth to the Shadow Forest.

Inside the Shadow Forest which looked like something out of Tolkein, being very mini-Mirkwood-esque, at the center was the Hidden Glade and the mare NPC.

Harry walked up to the <Hidden Glade Mare NPC> with its green “!” curser saying: “What’s wrong?” to activate the quest dialogue.

**_Hidden Glade Mare whinnies and bucks.  A <Wild Stallion> is trying to take over the <Hidden Glade Herd>._ **

“How can I help?”

**_Hidden Glade Mare tosses her head and snorts, jerking her nose towards the far side of the Hidden Glade._ **

**_A <Wild Stallion> appears._ **

**_< Quest: Hidden Glade Herd> Save the <Hidden Glade Herd Stallion> from the encroaching <Wild Stallion>._ **

**_Do you Accept?_ **

**_Accept                  Decline_ **

Harry tapped the Accept button on the open quest menu, cracking his head as the <Wild Stallion> snorted and wheeled, its curser changing from Orange to the Red of an active monster, its level showing as level 20 with the HP to go with it.

Thankfully, it wasn’t a boss, so it only had the one HP bar, otherwise this would take _way_ longer than he wanted to spend on a solo quest, not to mention sure to cost him in health and recovery potions.

Well, it would if he wanted to be back up to fighting form for teaming with Kirito in the Labyrinth again tomorrow.

Harry gave a shrill whistle, rolling his eyes a bit when his menu flashed with the: <Skill: Whistle> Unlocked notification.  He hadn’t had that happen in the last week or so, a random skill popping up.

Combat skills, yes. 

Randomness like Howl and Whistle…not so much.

At the first charge of the Wild Stallion – a magnificent creature that Harry thought (mainly from Aunt Marge’s copies of Horse and Hounds that she toted with her every trip to visit) had been based off one of the big work horse breeds like a Clydesdale or Percheron – that stood at least a foot taller at the shoulder than the mare it charged passed towards Harry.  There wasn’t a <Hidden Glade Herd Stallion> that populated, which was a relief.  He wouldn’t have to focus on protecting the Stallion and fighting the Wild Stallion at the same time which would be a lot easier as a beginning solo player than for someone like Kirito who was more familiar with the game mechanics and how the monsters were programmed to behave.

Harry didn’t have any experience with horses, something that sucked as he stared down a charging one.

What he _did_ have was experience with Buckbeak and the Forbidden Forest thestrals.

If Harry could duck a slash from the wicked talons of a hippogriff in a strop, he should be able to wear down a Wild Stallion.

One thing he knew for certain: he _did not_ want to get either kicked or stomped by a creature that large and strong.

As a result, Harry yelled and whistled at the charging stallion, goading it only to spin out of the way of the stampede, giving him first-hand experience with the monster’s braking and turning ability…which wasn’t that great, taking a couple seconds to wheel and turn to charge back at him.

Harry did it again.

And again, paying attention to the movement and one eye on the HP bar and praying that its Endurance wasn’t linked to its HP.

The stallion began to tire out after about a dozen charges.

It was also getting _cranky_ , Harry barely dodging a stomp and swipe of a hoof with a tumble.

Harry thought fast, thinking back to his hippogriff lessons, then switched out his katana for a pair of things from his inventory: an <Apple> and a <Ruined Shirt>.

Changing from goading to crooning, Harry held out the apple to the stallion, hiding the ruined shirt behind his back.

He was going to only get one shot at this so he’d better make it count.

Or the stallion would turn him into Harry pâté.

It eyed him suspiciously, but it was tired and had taken a couple of hits that lowered his HP bar, even if Harry had intentionally made them glancing blows.

Patience, for this quest, was a virtue Harry found as he must have stood there in a silent battle of wills with a horse for several minutes before it clipped carefully over towards Harry and took the apple, half of it dropping onto the ground.

The stallion lowered his head.

Harry pounced, wrapping the ruined shirt around its eyes and using it to keep control of the stallion, muscles straining as the horse screamed and kicked out with his back legs, bucking for all it was worth.

But it couldn’t maintain it long, the dancing the two had down had worn down the stallion’s endurance significantly and Harry was a stubborn motherfucker.

That apple had cost him 2,000 Cor from a trader, it being one of the rarer fruit drops and one of the tastiest, equal to twenty nights’ rent at a nicer inn.

All the while as the horse screamed and bucked, Harry crooned to soothe it…in theory anyway.

He wasn’t a Beast Tamer nor did he really _want_ to be.

But a horse that he didn’t have to rent or bother equipping Riding to use as a mount?

Now _that_ was worth a bit of effort and having a skill slot dedicated to Familiar Communication, especially since a big-ass stallion would be a benefit in battle as well except in tight quarters.

His patience – which by the time the horse settled was looking more like being bullheaded than anything else as sweat dripped down Harry’s face and his arms throbbed from strain – was rewarded.

Literally, as the stallion’s curser flashed from red to yellow and a notification lit up in Harry’s vision with a jingling noise.

**_< Quest Complete!>_ **

**_Reward:_ **

**_+1800 EXP_ **

**_+180 Cor_ **

**_\+ 1 <Reward Chest>_ **

**_Bonus:_ **

**_UNLOCKED! <Skill: Familiar Communication> Equip Now? O-Yes X-No_ **

**_UNLOCKED! <Skill: Familiar Retrieval> Equip Now? O-Yes X-No_ **

**_UNLOCKED! <Skill: Emotional Support/Comfort> Equip Now? O-Yes X-No_ **

**_< Congratulations!  Level UP!>_ **

**_< Level 19 -> Level 20>_ **

**_UNLOCKED! <Skill Slot 5>_ **

“Guess you’re my familiar now, huh?”  He asked the stallion who’s name icon had changed from <Wild Stallion> to <Unnamed Pet>.

Tapping a few buttons, he equipped <Familiar Communication> in both his skill sets’ fifth slot, then eyed the stallion and tapped the horse button that had appeared to the top left of his screen opposite where his party member menu options populated when he teamed up with Kirito.

The button loaded the Familiar Controls Menu, which showed similar options as Harry’s own player controls over things like attributes and skills, but with an added Name field that had a flashing curser waiting for him to name his new pet.

Laughing a bit to himself at the amount of useless information he’d amassed between Hermione and Sirius he quoted the _Illiad:_ _"... there is no man that shall catch thee by a burst of speed, neither pass thee by, nay, not though in pursuit he were driving goodly **Arion** , the swift horse of Adrastus, that was of heavenly stock ...”_

“Do you like that boy?”  He asked absently as he opened up his inventory and got out a <Sugar Cube> that he brought in bulk since it made the tasteless Aincrad tea actually taste like watered down Tetleys…which he’d take since that was better than swamp water or nothing at all.  “Arion?”

The newly-dubbed stallion with his night-black coat and single white “star” patch on his forehead snorted and lipped up the sugar cube then nudged Harry’s hand for pets.

“Guess so.”  He smirked, obliging the horse whose back was at his eye level and whose head towered over him.  Harry noted the base stats for the level twenty Stallion: Strength and Fearlessness were maxed for a level twenty creature, with half-maxed Vitality, Damage, and Intimidation with no points at all used so far for any other attributes.

Arion came with three skills which was normal from what little he knew about having a familiar, they leveled and gained attributes and skill slots slower than players to limit the ability of Beast Tamers from managing hordes of creatures.

For every familiar tamed by a player, they lost a skill slot capping the number of active familiars at level twenty at three, and so on, forcing a beast tamer to wait until their current familiar(s) have all gained another skill slot before taming a new one.

And there weren’t that many monsters that _could_ be tamed with most of those of the smaller varieties.

Arion’s skills were currently Listening (Familiar-Player Required Skill) which was the counterpart to Harry’s Familiar Communication, Charge, and Kick.

Familiars also only had one set of skills, so you had to choose your pet’s skills wisely as you couldn’t level two sets depending on where you were.

Running one hand down Arion’s neck, Harry opened the Reward Chest, unsurprised by what he found.

“I bet that changes depending on how a player completes the quest.”  He murmured, equipping the <Leather Saddle>, <Woven Saddle Blanket>, <Leather Hackamore>, and <Leather Reins>, which doubled as basic “armor” for Arion, buffing his Vitality (saddle blanket), Precision (reins), and Concentration (saddle and hackamore) all to Arion’s armor menu.  “Since a player that doesn’t tame a stallion wouldn’t need horse tack.”

On the plus side, he was pretty sure he could find a leatherworker to make him some saddlebags, so Arion could carry his own food and gear, lightening the burden on Harry’s inventory.

“Good thing Padfoot is such an Englishman.”  Harry grimaced, thinking of Sirius’s attempts to teach Harry how to ride beyond “hold on and don’t let go.”  “Otherwise this wouldn’t be fun.  Hold still, Arion.”

The horse nodded his head, his Listening skill gaining exp the same as Harry’s Familiar Communication as he grabbed hold of the saddle, reins resting in his forward hand, and foot in the stirrup heaved himself up onto and threw his leg over Arion’s back, having a moment of vertigo at the sudden change in perspective.

Arion was _tall_.

Not quite Abraxan tall but definitely taller than either Buckbeak or the thestrals from the Forbidden Forest back home.

“Okay, you’re not going to fit through the cave-access.”  Harry spoke half to himself and half to Arion, activating his Searching skill to find a secondary exit.  “What else is there…?”

Nothing, at least what he could see but then…

“I haven’t come out the other side of the forest before.”  Harry clicked his tongue and directed Arion with the reins after orienting with his map.  “Let’s see if there’s another way out.”

There would have to be, given that a smart player who didn’t just kill the <Wild Stallion> from the quest wouldn’t be able to use the cave access to this hidden part of the first floor.

The only question was how long it would take Harry and Arion to find it.

A nudge of Harry’s knees and Arion was setting off at an easy lope through the <Dirt Horse Path> that opened up alongside the end of the quest.

“We better make it back to Tolbana on time.”  Harry sighed as he leaned forward, urging Arion on faster as the apple and sugar lump plus the bit of a rest had replenished Arion’s endurance bar.  “Or Kirito will _never_ let me hear the end of it…”


	3. 31

** Hazing Online **

**31**

_Tolbana, First Floor, Aincrad_

Kirito had taken the sight of Harry riding into town – late, but he still made it before it got too dark – on a horse with equanimity…right up until he saw the Pet Name field in Yellow side-by-side with Harry’s Player Name green curser.

 _Then_ the former beta tester had jumped all over him with excitement.

Horses were prohibitive to rent from <Stables> but they made travel significantly faster than walking or running on foot.

Rented Horses _also_ required Riding skill to use them to best effectiveness.

Arion didn’t, at least not for Harry since he had a tiny bit of real-world experience in riding even if only the basics, a neat workaround for the wizard.

…

“You’d have to give up two skill slots, Kirito-kun.”  Harry had explained that night.  “Do you really want to do that when Arion can carry us both easily?  Unless you’re second-guessing our partnership?”

“No, no, Haze-kun.”  Kirito rushed to wave that off.  “Maybe later, hai?  When I have more skill slots unlocked.”  He blinked.  “If Arion-san doesn’t mind.”

“Okay then.”  Harry nodded.  “Guess I won’t be selling this secret to Argo.”

“Other players won’t like that.”  Kirito warned.  “Arion-san is a major advantage.”

Harry shrugged.

“Other players aren’t my friends or my problem – unless they make themselves my problem.”  He shrugged the warning off.  “I’m just not as nice as you are, Kirito-kun.”  Harry told him honestly.  “And too paranoid to take the risk of some of the seedier players ending up with a horse familiar.”

“Have you heard?”  Kirito asked, leaning forward with a frown and a hushed voice.  “About the… _deaths?”_

“Player-on-player was always an aspect of the game that appealed to some, Kirito-kun.”  Harry’s lips turned down as he scowled.  “Everyone has a dark side.  The new rules have just given some people license that they didn’t have before to _act_ on that dark side.”

“You think players _are_ killing other players?”

“I think they will if they haven’t already.”  Harry sighed, slumping back against his chair.  “Two _thousand_ players already dead from suicide or the game.  That’s a twenty percent loss in thirty days.”  Harry shook his head.  “We _can’t_ sustain that level of loss and expect for anyone to survive.”

“But not everyone will see it that way.”

“No.”  Harry agreed as much as he wished he thought otherwise.  “No, they won’t.”

…

The next day Harry, Kirito, and Arion had gone into the Labyrinth, clearing old ground to test Arion’s abilities in combat and finding that while his Kick skill carried higher damage, his Charge did damage and caused Knock-Down for up to three opponents.

And then the news came: one of the relatively few in number female players named Asuna had collapsed in exhaustion on the Front Lines of the Clearing parties that were trying to find the final Boss Room in the Labyrinth.  Kirito knew her, at least a little bit having warned the cloak-wearing player about exhausting herself, so the pair had gone and hauled her back to Tolbana on Arion’s back.  She hadn’t been _pleased_ to say the least when she woke up.

Except for one thing.

A Clearing party led by a player named Diavel had located the Boss Room on Level 20 of the Labyrinth and called for a strategy meeting in Tolbana.

…

_Tolbana Fountain Plaza, Tolbana, Aincrad 1 st Floor, December 2022, Day 31_

“Alright.”  The player called out as he jumped up onto the edge of the fountain, doing a quick count and finding forty-five higher-level players gathered for the boss strategy meeting.  “Everybody’s here so let’s get started.  My name’s Diavel and my search team found the stairs to the 20th floor Boss Room in the Labyrinth.”  He said excitedly.  “We can do this.  We _have_ to do beat this boss and unlock the 2 nd Floor so the weaker players can see that we _can_ beat this game!”

Several of the gathered Clearers hooted and hollered, stomping their feet and cheering.

“Now,” Diavel tried to start the strategy part of the meeting only to get interrupted.

“Wait.”  A shorter but solidly-built player with sandy-brown hair shouted, scowling and stomping towards the front of the crowd.  “What about the betas?”

“What about them?”  Diavel asked, confused.

“Two thousand players are dead.”  The player ranted.  “Two thousand.  You think the betas couldn’t have _prevented_ that?  The deaths are _their_ fault and they should have to pay for it.”

“Bullshit.”  Harry coughed-shouted into his fist.  “What’s your name, brain-trust?”

“Kibaou,” the sandy-haired player puffed himself up as he finally spotted the owner of the mocking tone sprawled on the grass of the fountain plaza with a black horse munching on a small pile of <Oats> next to him.  “ _My_ squad has been on the Front Lines clearing the Labyrinth while _beta-busters_ like _you_ have been running around banking cor and getting big drops and it’s not fair.”

“Life’s not fair, princess.”  Harry snorted, ignoring the crowd that was slowly starting to split as well as Kirito’s anxious shifting and Asuna’s whisper-hissing to shut-up where the two stood beside his indolent form.  “And I’m not a beta.”  He sprang to his feet in an agile motion.  “A month ago I was a brand-new beginner just like you, Kibaou.  And I don’t blame the betas for something some asshole on a powertrip did to _all_ of us.”

“They should still have to apologize!”  Kibaou ranted.  “Handing over their rare items and cor would be a _start_ at paying for hoarding their advanced information.”

“Again: bullshit.”  Harry crossed his arms arching a brow.

“Haze is right.”  A player Harry and Kirito had run into before named Agil agreed.  “Anyone can get a beginning field guide in towns.  And the betas and more experienced players are the ones who gave the information for it.”

Seeing that his plan was spiked, Kibaou shut his mouth, though if looks could kill Harry would be nothing but pixeled dust.

“Now that _that’s_ settled.”  Harry snorted.  “You were saying, Diavel?”

“We found the entrance to the floor.”  Diavel explained.  “Now we need a couple parties to map it before we set a strategy to take out the Boss, which Argo’s field guide says should be <Illfang the Kobold Lord>.”

Harry traded a glance with Kirito and Asuna, the latter of whom had eaten and rested from her collapse earlier in the day.

“We’ll go.”  Kirito announced, as he, Asuna-san, and Haze-kun were some of the current top players, gesturing to the triad.  “But we’ll need a support player for healing in case of mobs.”

“I’ll go with you, Kirito, Haze, Asuna.”  Agil offered with a glare of his own for Kibaou.  “I wield a mean axe but I have <First Aid> equipped.”

As the African-American player made his way over to the triad, Harry opening up his Party Menu as the current “Leader” of himself and Kirito, a job that the two of them swapped between them, Harry sent invites to both Asuna and Agil, seeing their icons and HP bars pop up on the right-hand side of his vision.

Agil from what he saw was a bit of a tank, having more Vitality than either Kirito or Asuna but not as much as Harry due to his paranoia while Asuna had the least HP of all of them.

A strike-first player, she was fast he’d give her that.

But her sulky, depressed, kill-everything attitude could get old _fast_.

Agil was _also_ freaking massive, standing a head above Harry and head and shoulders taller than either Kirito or Asuna.

Partied up, the quartet headed off to walk the half-hour to the Labyrinth and the location of the 20th Floor staircase which Diavel had messaged Harry and the other party leader Heathcliff as a second party had been put together to help run the floor with Harry and Kirito’s quartet.

“You think the information is good?”  Agil asked, meaning Argo’s field guide that several of the beta testers had contributed to in the wake of the Death Game.

“I think.”  Harry stated, having not met or worked with Agil before.  “That if the Game Maker was psycho enough to risk killing 10,000 people to play god then it pays to be cautious.  The floor layouts are different, and we’ve run into things that betas didn’t know about or at least that weren’t shared.  If the maps can change I wouldn’t be surprised if other things changed as well.”

…

The two Clearing parties switched out running point as they worked their way through the single long corridor beyond the stairs to the massive double doors that – they hoped – led to the Boss Room.  A corridor that was infested with Level 19 and 20 <Kobold Sentry> monsters which according to Kirito would also spawn to protect the Boss, with a new set of three spawning with every HP bar they wiped, which <Illfang the Kobold Lord> was supposed to have four of.  Well, clearing the simple layout of several dozen <Kobold Sentry> got Kirito his Level 20 at least so the day wasn’t totally wasted.

It was one of the rare floors that didn’t have a “Recovery” area set-up as monster-free, so they had no choice but to continue pushing forward.

Finally, they came to the massive double doors, Harry and Kirito both bringing up their Searching skill since the two teams had established that the pair had the highest levels in that skill, preventing them from having to open the doors and trigger the Boss.

“Is it him?”  Asuna asked, catching her breath from their last skirmish, though at least the monsters weren’t respawning behind them.

So there was that.

Lit up like a star on a Christmas Tree, at the very end of Harry’s map was a marker reading a bright red.

Without triggering it they wouldn’t know for certain but it was late, they were tired, and this floor at least had matched Argo’s field guide verbatim.

“Won’t know for certain until we trigger him.”  Harry drawled.  “But it looks like it.”

“Time to report back.”  Heathcliff said – more like ordered – abruptly.  “Can your pet carry more than one, Haze-san?”

“More than one, sure.”  He shrugged and crossed his eyes in exasperation at Kirito, the middle-aged tank of a fighter having long since gotten on Harry’s last nerve with his highhandedness.  “But not my whole team.  We’ll meet you back at Tolbana, yeah?”  With that he waved them off and started striding for the exit.

“Not much of a team-player, are you Haze?”  Agil asked, chuckling as he and the other two followed after the somewhat irascible black-haired teen.

“Nope.”  Harry agreed with smirk.  “Never have been, never will be.  Why do you think Kirito-kun and I make such good partners?  Our cheery personalities?  Or because neither of us _needs_ to be attached to the other twenty-four/seven?”

Kirito just shrugged when the bald-headed older man glanced his way.

It wasn’t like it was a lie, though there was more to it at this point than just not irritating each other.

Or at least, Kirito hoped there was, which Haze-kun’s holding back – despite all the badgering he’d taken in the last day alone – over how he’d gotten Arion seemed to support since Haze-kun didn’t want other players to have an advantage that Kirito couldn’t equal.

…

“Are you okay with this?”  Harry leaned over to mutter in Kirito’s ear.

This, being the plan that Diavel was concocting for taking on the Boss, a plan that Harry himself had more than one problem with.

The main of which being that it relied on the field guide’s information being accurate which they couldn’t _know_ without a scouting raid on the Boss Room.

Kirito gave a frown as Diavel laid out the rest of the plan: he’d call command, the forty-five players split into groups of six with three players left over to run support where needed, who by necessity would be those that worked best solo: Kirito, Haze, and Asuna, with everyone attacking en-mass after the fourth and final Boss HP bar hit half-way gone and triggered Illfang’s final skill which in the beta was switching its weapon set for a Talwar with accompanying skills.

“Diavel’s group is the one that found the Boss Floor.”  Kirito decided.

“That doesn’t make him the automatic leader of this operation, Kirito-kun.”  Harry told him, rolling his eyes in exasperation.  “Not when player safety should come first.  What do we have to lose by waiting a _day_ to run a scouting raid?  I’ll tell you,” he snorted.  “Not a goddamned thing.”

“Is there a problem, Haze?”  Agil prompted, having noted the growing thunder-cloud over the emerald-eyed teenager’s head, Diavel – and most of the other players for that matter who had reconvened for the report from the two Clearing parties sent to the Boss Floor – turning towards him in question.

“Why aren’t we running a scouting raid?”  Harry asked, just _done_ with the lack of planning going into this op.

Gamers.

Still too used to having Resurrection Rooms and no consequences.

“Well, the field guide…”  Diavel started to explain only to get cut off rudely.

“Has holes in it.”  Harry growled.  “Missing information, wrong information.  It should be taken as advice at best and suspect at worst.  I repeat: _why_ aren’t we running a scouting raid.  What’s the rush?  It’s taken us this long to find the Boss, what’s one more day?”

“One more day _stuck here_ , that’s what!”  Asuna lashed out at the other player, voice strident.  “This isn’t _real_ or have you forgotten that, Haze-san?”

“No, I haven’t.”  Harry told her deadpan.  “I have a real life I want to get back to just as much as anyone else.  A family.  Friends.  But I want to _survive_ to get back to them not die in a Boss Room because no one bothered to scout it.  If a scouting raid can save even _one_ life, it’s worth the time it takes to run it.  This _isn’t_ a game anymore for all that it’s VR.”  He reminded her – and everyone else – softly.  “You need to stop treating it like a game.”

“What makes you such an expert, boy?”  Kibaou hissed, still pissed at the teen’s mockery from earlier.

“You think I got these scars playing cricket in Merry Ol’?”  Harry asked derisively, gesturing to his face and arms, visible with his hoody off and stowed.  “I am – or I was, I suppose, a soldier.”

“We’ll run a scouting raid.”  Agil decided long minutes later after the squabbling had died back down.  “Three teams of fifteen rotating in and out as needed until we trigger the boss’s final attack then we get back out to plan for a successful offensive raid.”

And, Jesus, was he glad he’d listened to Haze, Agil decided the next afternoon.

“I thought you might be bullshitting me with that soldier bit.”  Agil panted as the scouting parties rested in the corridor after rushing out like their asses were on fire at the sight of Illfang swapping his weapon set for a <No-Dachi> instead of a <Talwar>.  And from the bouncing around the room the boss had done while the players ran for their fucking lives, the curved blade came with a top-tier Skill with it.  “’Cause you look so young, but you weren’t kidding were you?”

Agil was referring half to the now-established need for scouting raids on bosses even when everything else checked out, something that the Front Line Clearers were going to have to implement, and half towards Haze’s flash-quick reaction and call for retreat when Illfang swapped its weapons.

“I don’t play games with people’s lives.”  Harry snorted, standing tall and surveying the heavy-breathing going on all around him as he rubbed Arion’s side, the horse having had to snatch up more than one player during the battle with Illfang and his sentries and get them clear of the danger zone before they hit red in their HP bars.

 _Gamers_.

That got him a considering glance from a few of the tougher players around him, notably Agil, Heathcliff, and Asuna.

Kirito, naturally, already knew this about his Haze-kun.

Though… _when_ Haze-kun had becoming _his_ Haze-kun he wasn’t quite sure.

A problem for another day, for now they needed to refine their strategy with the new information they’d found out.

“The teams idea will still work.”  Diavel insisted a few minutes later.  “But does anyone know what skill that was at the end?”

“It’s a katana skill.”  Kirito’s friend Klein provided, being one of the other two katana users on the Front Lines.  “High level, Haze might have a better idea.”

“Haze?”

“Not sure.”  Harry shrugged.  “But given the blowback the last out as he landed got hit with, it has to be an area of effect attack.  We either have to block it or get clear before our hardest hitters take Illfang out.”

“Knock-down attacks.”  Klein agreed with a nod.  “I haven’t leveled Floating Boat yet, though…”

“I have.”  Harry said, wrinkling his nose.  “It takes a monster five seconds to recover and attack, it’s not a very big window but if some ranged fighters hit him in the air, the rest can finish him once he lands.”

“Why not both?”  Kirito suggested.  “I can counter Illfang’s attack in mid-air with Sonic Leap, then Haze-kun hits with Floating Boat, ranged attacks, then tanks.”

“And wash, rinse, repeat as necessary until the boss is dusted.”  Diavel nodded, agreeing.  “We’ll head back out at 0800 tomorrow.  For now,” he stretched with a groan.  “I need to recharge.”

…

Nothing, unfortunately, was ever that easy.

Best laid plans and all that.

They ran smaller groups, this time with five sets of nine players each to give a better split and fresher relief when Diavel would call out for groups to switch, and everything was fine if exhausting.

Then _someone_ had to show up the others…and show off.

Kibaou.

Still holding a grudge, Kibaou tripped Kirito and flung him back – an impressive show of strength – to the edge of the “safe” zone they’d established based on the blow-back from Illfang’s katana strike the day before.

Only…it wasn’t enough.

 _He_ wasn’t enough.

And all the players could _do_ was fall to their knees in the backlash as Illfang cut Kibaou in half with a single strike.

Most froze in horror.

Harry and Kirito weren’t _most._

Fucked plan or not, they stuck to it as Kibaou had landed a single strike against Illfang before the blow hit, Kirito interrupting another go at the skill with Sonic Leap then Harry doing his part with his Floating Boat, a couple of the ranged-attackers snapping out of their shock long enough to hit Illfang in the air, Kirito and Harry already charging with Asuna, Agil, and Diavel with them for the downed boss.

Harry’s Phantom Moon hit first.

Kirito’s Vorpal Strike finished it.

And Kibaou dispersed into pixels as he bled out.

Below Illfang’s throne, a chest appeared in pixels of its own as the Cardinal AI divided exp and general drops to the various parties and their members as Kirito opened the chest, with a <Last-Attack Item> dropping at Kirito’s feet.

“He knew better.”  Agil said with a mournful sigh and shake of his head as several of the players broke down in tears, Kirito blank-faced as the younger teen equipped his new <Coat of Midnight> which had a +Hiding buff.

“He _thought_ he knew better.”  Harry said with no little bitterness, even as he arched a brow.  He must’ve done quite a bit of damage with his last couple strikes on Illfang.  He’d received  <Kobold’s Bane> a No-Dachi like Illfang’s if sized for a player to use from the drops.  “He was wrong.”

“About a lot of things, I think.”  Agil said thoughtfully, patting Haze and Kirito on their shoulders before moving to console some of his normal party members, Kirito already kicking everyone but Haze from their party.  “At least no one can say the beta testers didn’t try and help this time.”

“He’s right, you know.”  Harry told Kirito as Arion trotted over from where he’d been playing rescue-horse during the battle.  “There wasn’t anything anyone could have done to prevent Kibaou from doing that.”

“Let’s just get out of here, hai?”  Kirito sighed, shoulders slumped.  “I’ve had enough for today.”

Harry swung up into the saddle, offering his hand down to Kirito and helping him onto Arion’s back.

They had to travel all the way back to the Town of Beginnings to activate the <Teleport Gate> to the 2nd Floor, roughly ten kilometers which with Arion doing the leg-work, shouldn’t take them long at all once they get clear of the Labyrinth.

The pair made a pit-stop at a merchant to clear their inventories and stock-up on potions, Harry ignoring the _looks_ the pair was getting from the still-crowded town as he led Arion by his reins through the settlement towards the  <Teleport Gate>, knowing that it wouldn’t open at the main 2nd Floor settlement but at an exit elsewhere, leaving them to find their way from the 1st Floor Exit Portal to a settlement before they could rest.

Sharing a glance, each teen lifted his free hand then gave the command:

“Activate Gate!  Teleport 2nd Floor!”

…

_1 st Floor Exit Portal, Aincrad 2nd Floor_

Harry and Kirito stepped out of the glowing portal, Arion with them, staring in wonder at the vastly different make of the second floor.

Where the first floor was mainly plains with forests and a few mountains, the entire second floor – which they had a pretty good view of with the portal opening up on a high mountain top – was savannah with flat-topped mountains scattered over the land.

Pretty but alien compared to the near-idyllic landscape of the first floor.

“That way.”  Kirito nudged Haze-kun, pointing towards the long set of stairs – the first of over a dozen – that led down the mountain towards the flat plains.

“Oh, goody.”  Harry sighed, shaking his head then remounting on Arion, Kirito swinging up behind him once more.  “Just what I want to do while on horseback: more stairs.”

…

 


	4. 35

** Hazing Online **

**35**

_Field Boss Location, Aincrad 2 nd Floor, December 11, 2022_

Thirty-five days into the Death Game, and Kirito had wandered off with Argo on some secret quest that she’d agreed to show him after he saved her from a couple thugs.

All well and good…but Harry was _bored_.

And a bored Harry, even in a Death Game, wasn’t good.

Which was how Harry found himself alone except for Arion, facing off against the 2nd Floor Field Boss <Bulbous Bow> a bull monster that stuck mainly to a charge-turn-charge again pattern.

Compared to the weeks it took to locate the 1st floor labyrinth, Harry had run into the Field Boss by following some cliffs and spotted the Labyrinth entrance behind it.  With his Searching skill modded for Tracking the same as Kirito’s after leveling it to fifty (out of a thousand, skills at least leveled faster than players themselves did) he’d tagged the field boss as a level twenty-two boss, with two HP bars.  Which, after two days of grinding plus the exp from the first level boss fight, Harry thought he could handle on his own with Arion to distract the bull, since Harry’d hit level twenty-three and Arion level twenty-one.

Two HP bars for two HP bars, with a Slytherin’s cunning behind it, it had _seemed_ like a good idea at the time.

Which he was pretty sure was going on his gravestone.

“It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

He wasn’t sure _when_ his inner Gryffindor escaped, but he hoped his Slytherin half beat it back up soon before it got him killed.

Hopefully, it wasn’t too late.

Harry activated his Hiding skill, using it to keep from drawing the bull’s attention as Arion played chicken (plus a kick as he passed the bull for good measure) with the field boss, finding that while he could use a sword skill while Hiding, it snapped him out of it at the end of the motion leaving him visible during cool-down.

Hence, the reason he was rethinking his strategy and life choices just a few days after lecturing the _hell_ out of the other front-line players.

Do as he said kids, and not as he did: also another option for his epitaph.

However, thanks to Arion, Harry knew how to outlast a monster that relied on a charging attack, and it was just that simple: you had to outlast them if you couldn’t swarm them.

Arion did an excellent job of distracting and tiring the bull as Harry swapped between Floating Boat and Phantom Moon, his current two equipped sword skills, with Hiding in between, but eventually the horse tired and gave one last rearing kick to the bull before obeying Harry’s command to leave the bull’s attack radius, focusing the snorting creature that had been whittled down to just under a single HP bar on Harry alone.

Running to meet the bull’s first charge, he hit with Floating Boat, knocking the bull high once more, following through immediately with Phantom Moon as Kirito had taught him to keep from freezing into cool-down, not able to risk being defenseless without Arion to have his back, though doubling up like that drained his own strength, precision, and agility like nothing else.

But it worked.

Harry didn’t escape unscathed, taking a massive blow from the bull after a miscalculation that definitely rang his bell, but he’d done it: limping, exhausted, and leaking HP, but he’d done it.

Collapsing where the bull had dissolved into pixels, Harry slumped over, ignoring the double-jingling of level-up for both himself and Arion, plus the drops and Cor.

Normally completed by a party, Harry had gotten the drops that were normally split up, making them higher in value than the bog-standard drops, even if the Last-Attack drop was the same, a <Chakram> throwing blade that would go nicely with his throwing blade weapons set even if he didn’t have any attack skills for throwing blades equipped.

Sucking down health and regeneration potions like they were mother’s milk and taking out an apple for Arion who definitely deserved it, Harry arched a brow as while he was slowly feeling less like hammered shit, a private message from Kirito popped up in his field of vision.

**_< Private Message From Player: Kirito>_ **

**_< Open>_ **

**_Message: Back in <Urbus> after successful quest.  Where are you?_ **

**_< Private Message For Player: Kirito>_ **

**_Message: I’ll explain later.  Be back soon, have to <Map> area before I head back._ **

**_< Send>_ **

Switching out his skill sets he proceeded to do just that, marking the entrance to the 2nd floor Labyrinth on his map which became more and more vivid and precise with every level of map-making he gained, then lumbering to his feet with a stumble.

“Well, boy.”  Harry patted Arion’s neck.  “Ready to head back?”

Arion snorted and stamped a hoof then turned to the side to offer the stirrup, replenished enough for a light lope back to Urbus to meet with his person’s friend.

…

“You’re an idiot, Haze-kun.”  Kirito told him with a vicious, cutting glare, black eyes burning.

“Believe me, I know.”  Harry grimaced, drooping where he sat in the stable loft in Urbus they’d let when arriving in town, a change from inn rooms that had come with Harry taming Arion.  “You’ve made that clear: in detail.”

Honestly, the only thing Kirito was missing from a Hermione-scale rant were some charts and diagrams detailing _just_ how stupid his latest stunt had been.

That Harry had arrived in Urbus basically slumped over Arion’s back and Kirito having to haul him off the high back of the war horse hadn’t helped matters, as it was he’d barely made it up the ladder with Kirito’s help before slumping over in a pile of hay.

After finding out _why_ his friend was so beat up, well.

Kirito had been Not Amused™.

And let “Haze” know it without mercy for the sore and exhausted older boy.

Kirito wasn’t sure if it was a Westerner thing, since a large percent of the SAO players who’d snagged copies for the first release had been from his home of Nippon, or just a Haze thing but for a player that lectured others about safety and having a regard or their own and others’ lives, he could be ridiculously cavalier with his own.

The fucking idiot.

“Hey, though.”  Harry moved to change the subject once Kirito had finished his latest rant over Harry’s behavior and settled onto his pallet to seethe.  “You didn’t tell me how the quest with Argo went or what it was.”

Kirito sighed, falling back onto the pallet and letting his arms relax, closing his eyes since he knew Haze would be giving him his Puppy Eyes of Doom™ silently asking for forgiveness for being an epic shit.

“It was a special quest with an extra skill reward.”  Kirito supplied after letting Haze hang for a minute longer before breaking the miniature version of the silent treatment.  “Martial Arts.”

“Brilliant!”  The other teen cheered, Kirito not even having to look over to know there was a bright grin on his scarred face.

“Hai, leveled too.”  Kirito sighed, not that Haze had _said_ he’d leveled again, but given that he’d survived a fight with a field boss with only Arion for backup it went without saying that he’d have had to, without, you know, _dying_ _from idiocy!_

“Mmm.”  Harry hummed letting himself start to drift since Arion would be aware before either of them if anyone came looking for the becoming-infamous pair.  “Sent word to Agil and Diavel about the Labyrinth.  Clearer Parties should start on it tomorrow.”

“Go to sleep, Haze-kun.”  Kirito sighed.  “Maybe I won’t be mad at you by the time we wake up.”

…

_Dark Elf Queen’s Castle, 9 th Floor, Day 72, January 17, 2023_

Some floors were smaller than others, Harry had come to find as he rested in the open window of his rented quarters in the <Dark Elf Queen’s Castle> which was both the only “settlement” and the only Labyrinth/area of the 9th floor.

Another month had passed by and the players who’d taken on the challenge of clearing floors had gotten into a rhythm like a well-oiled machine for the most part.

There were still fights, arguments, and squabbles, but they were moving at a good clip, though one that Kirito warned would have to eventually slow down as time passed and players needed to ease up or risk burning out as the bosses got harder to beat.

The two still alternated between pairing up and solo playing, though it had gotten more common since their first several-day separation to meet up three or four times a week instead of every night, having leveled to the point that teleportation crystals weren’t as prohibitive and allowing them to set rendezvous points in advance, which was what Harry was doing waiting on the 9th floor instead of out leveling or on the front lines with the other Clearers.

And wasn’t that something?

From savior boy-who-lived to Clearer, though at least he’d come by the latter title honestly instead of on accident.

There were better players.

Better leaders, better whatevers, but when it came to the boss fights, a dozen or so players had over the last twelve floors been set apart from all the rest, though Harry and Kirito still tended to trade the <Last-Attack> distinction between them as some like Diavel and Heathcliff preferred Command over being in the thick of things against the bosses.

The players had cleared up to the 13th Floor so far, with Harry hitting level thirty in the process and adding Fishing and the katana attack Whirlwind, letting him trade out his basic Phantom Moon attack for Battle Healing in the process as leveling slowed down as the required experience notched higher and higher.

He and Kirito had also completed the <Elf War> quest campaign and gained a crystal vial each that could be used to swap out slot skills without losing progress, allowing Harry to add Trapping to his combat skills that he alternated with Hiding, though he still wasn’t certain what Kirito used his for.

Arion didn’t like the ninth floor with its lack of grass, but it was still _much_ better than some floors where you couldn’t set foot on the surface at all because it was water or suspended in mid-air.

“Brooding again, Haze-kun?”  Kirito asked with a sigh as he unlocked the door with the keycode Haze-kun had messaged him.

“Seventy-two days today, Kirito-kun.”  Harry replied in his shaky Japanese, the younger teen having moved from teaching Harry game mechanics to Japanese lessons given the hefty percentage of Nippon-born players compared to other countries.  “It’s worth a bit of a brood.”

“Hai, I suppose.”  Kirito opened up his inventory, swapping out his all-black adventuring gear for a set of soft lounge clothes, shaking his head at the green-clad teen in the window.

The Black Swordsman and the Green Rider, or so they were called, Kirito picking up his appellation from his <Coat of Midnight> while Haze-kun’s was originally due to his eye color, though the other teen had run with it a little, choosing clothes and armor in a mixture of green and black instead of the blue and brown he’d worn when they’d first met.

“What are you thinking about so hard, Haze-kun?”  Kirito asked when he came out of the bath, patting a sleep-standing Arion on the side as he passed the horse that was leaning against the castle wall, and spotted the older teen still in the same spot staring out at the alien Aincrad sky.

“Do you know what I was doing this time last year, Kirito-kun?”  Harry responded, eyes still locked on the sky as the other boy came and sat opposite him on the window seat, his legs stretching out on the outside of Harry’s own but not quite close enough to brush Harry’s hip but closer than they would have two months ago.  Harry noted it nonetheless.  “Did I ever tell you?”

“No, Haze-kun.”  Kirito shook his head with a light, confused frown.  “We’ve never really talked about… _before.”_

Not even at their lowest.

Like when Haze scared ten lives off of him with his stunt with the 2nd Floor field boss, a stunt that they kept to themselves lest another player attempt it, allowing Argo and the others who knew they located the Labyrinth to think the pair did it together with Arion’s help – which still had many of the other players watching them with far too much awe.

Or when the first Clearer died in a boss fight and neither of them were close enough to help.

Yeah, that had been a dark day.

One that if it wasn’t for Agil dragging both of them to a hot spring to relax and _deal_ without an audience likely would have been so much worse…for both of them for all that Haze tended to be more pragmatic than Kirito.

Harry nodded slowly, vaguely aware of how reticent many players were about _before_ even as antisocial as he tended to be.

In that way, Hermione’s plan had definitely backfired, only instead of only being around his friends and family, Harry was only around Kirito and Arion unless they were helping Clear a floor.

“You know I was a soldier, though.”

“Hai, you said as much when you were frustrated with Diavel-san.”

“Hah, yeah.”  Harry scrubbed at the back of his head, his wild black hair trimmed close on the back and sides with just the top left to run wild, a style he’d started wearing after the Department of Mysteries.  Then he flexed his hand, bringing the words carved into his skin into relief.  “Do you know how old I am, Kirito-kun?”  He asked rhetorically, continuing before Kirito could respond in the negative.  “I’m sixteen.  A year ago: a government plant at my school was forcing me to cut these words into my hand over and over again until it scarred…until the message had _fully sunk in_.”  He finished with a snarl.

“How were you a soldier at sixteen, Haze-kun?”  Kirito asked confused.  That didn’t make any sense.  Unless…

“I was a child soldier.”  Harry said, tone quiet and rather… _dead_.  “My childhood ended when I was fifteen months old when a terrorist murdered my parents.”  He turned emerald eyes dark with remembered pain on his younger friend.  “My mum’s birthday would be in two weeks and Christmas was three weeks ago.”

Ah.  Kirito nodded to himself.  He understood.

It wasn’t how long they’d been in the game that was bothering his friend – his best friend probably at this point – it was what they were missing by being here.

Death, for all that Kirito could tell, didn’t really _bother_ Haze-kun as far as applying to himself.

Haze would move heaven and earth to prevent the death of _another_ , including Arion or Kirito, but _his own life_ was a different matter.

Kirito and Haze were both dedicated to becoming as strong in the game as they could, to survive the game, but Kirito was starting to think that while their _goals_ were the same, their motivations were very different.

He thought, perhaps, that if it wasn’t for _who_ waited for him in real-life, that Haze-kun would be content to truly _live_ in this amazing world, death game and all.

Haze-kun was fearless not because he wasn’t afraid to die but because he wasn’t afraid to live rather than merely survive.

“This place was supposed to be part of my recovery.”  Harry laughed derisively.  “There was a battle and some of my friends, some of the other fighters, even my godfather all came way too close to dying.”

“What happened?”

“We won.”  Harry said simply, not willing – or just too damn tired – to weave the right lies together to make his friend understand without revealing magic…something he also had no way to prove.  “Injured, nearly dead in my case, but it was finally _over._ ”  He let his head thud back against the castle wall.  “And five months later I get trapped in a death game with no way out, no magic escape flying in to save me or a battle to win to return home.”

“We’re going to get home, Haze-kun.”  Kirito told him fiercely, reaching forward and grabbing his left arm and giving him a rough shake.  “We _are_.  We make more progress every day.”

“But at what cost, Kirito?”  Harry’s breath rasped and rattled as he shoved down his rage and grief _again_ , something that it felt like he’d had to do almost hourly lately.  “Thousands dead.  _Thousands_.”  He rocked his head in place against the wall.  “More die every day.  And for what?”  He snorted.  “A madman’s dream?  I had enough of that in my _real_ life, I didn’t need more of it in my supposedly therapeutic gaming.”

“No one makes any of us fight, Haze-kun.”  Kirito told him solemnly.  “The ones who do like us…they know the risks.  All we can do is what we have been: level and clear.”

“Harry.”

“What?”  Kirito frowned, cocking his head to the side as Haze-kun lifted his head from the wall and turned those once-again bright emerald orbs on him.

“My name: it’s Harry.”

Kirito chewed on that for a long moment then gave a decisive nod and stood, snapping a respectful bow.

“Kazuto.”

Harry echoed his bow despite his seated position, showing off the grace that had been present in the green-eyed fighter ever since the very first day.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Kazuto.”

“And you…Hari.”

…

Things changed after that.

A trust that was inherently _known_ between them alongside knowing each other’s real first name.

It was the first step towards a change that neither teen expected...

Even if it was still months in coming to find them for good.

…

_Thunder Fields Dungeon Exit, 15 th Floor Aincrad; April 8, 2023_

The trio of Harry, Kirito, and Arion were wandering out of the <Thunder Fields Dungeon> when the shriek pierced the air.

Kirito’s hand clenched automatically on Harry’s hip in response to the high-pitched sound, the two players not even needing to trade a glance or a word so in tune were they as Harry kneed Arion’s sides and had the war horse galloping towards the sound, Kirito shifting behind Harry’s unyielding form to crouch behind him, his feet steady and balanced between his ever-growing Riding skill and the saddle-bags and pillion Harry had had crafted to make their travels easier.

Another shriek, this one filled with pain as well as panic pierced the air nearly covering the sound of Kirito’s one-handed longsword leaving its sheathe on his back as they came into sight of the problem: a group of mid-level players overset by a group of monsters on the edge of the Labyrinth valley.

There were only five of them and a single forward out of that five, a forward who was taking far too much damage to be able to switch-out with any of his party members.

Harry brought up his Searching skill, tagging and flagging the highest-level monster on the party map for Kirito, a level 26 <Thunder Spirit> that was hitting the weaker group hard with chained attacks.  A problem for them.  Not so much for either Clearer.

They’d hit 44 in their last boss fight up on level twenty-five, staying neck-and-neck with each other, but after five months of near-constant power-leveling, clearing, and boss fights, they were planning to take a bit of time to relax as Harry’s near-breakdown a couple months before had proven they needed, lest they focus too much on the “death” aspect of the death game.

Five months to clear a quarter of the floors of Aincrad.

Floor 25 took two _months_ alone, culling a whole third of the Clearers in the process.

Yeah, some R&R was just what the healer ordered.

But first, monsters.

Arion galloped then _leaped_ straight over the group of players, his hooves kicking up sod from his  <Jump> as the war horse barreled through the converging monsters, Kirito kicking off from horseback with a <Backflip> putting himself in front of the beleaguered forward, sword drawn and charged for attack as Harry wheeled Arion for another <Charge>.

They worked in perfect sync after months of partnership on quests and boss raids alike, Harry and Arion clearing the flanks of the monster mob with Kirito tearing through the center like a demon.

After their shock wore off, the players who’d been overset jumped back in as well, laying down support fire on the <Wind Spirits> and <Thunder Spirits> that had been threatening their very lives thanks to spawning as a mob.

As Kirito took out one of the last remaining <Thunder Spirit – Lvl 25> he spied Haze-kun’s green and black coat on the ground beside him, the other player having dismounted once the flanks of monsters that threatened to encircle the group were cleared, his dark-grey bladed <Kobold’s Bane> flashing green as he used <Whirlwind> to devastating effect against the lower-level monsters, the skill from what Kirito understood a lesser version of Illfang’s deadly omnidirectional attack.

That was another thing – and another reason for Haze-kun’s nickname among the other Clearers – his attack color.

Haze-kun was the only player Kirito had ever met that had a single attack color: the same vibrant green as his eyes, rather than an attack color-graphic that matched to a specific skill or skill type.

It was a distinctly “Haze-kun” thing that had no logic behind it, much like his outside skills that came through in the game, such as his ability to almost look _through_ a player to what their nature was or to know when a situation was about to – or had the potential as with their very first boss fight – turn lethal.

And from the murmuring coming from the party they’d rescued, Haze-kun’s reputation – mainly as a surly foul-mouthed Clearer – had preceded them, Kirito being less distinct away from the front-lines…when he _wanted_ to be anyway, than Haze-kun.

At one time, Kirito was in turns baffled and beleaguered by Haze-kun’s public persona.

Now he knew it was just a mask Haze-kun wore to protect himself.

To survive.

Attachments were something the older teen avoided like the plague, to the point of freeing up Kirito by going off on solo quests so that he could party with Agil and his guild or with Asuna when she asked rather than risk getting _close_ to either Clearer.  Kirito understood the fear of attachment, having had to make the same decision that first day of intending to set out on his own rather than drag a trio of noobs with him into the more dangerous areas of the first floor to power level.  Haze-kun had been an anomaly Kirito hadn’t expected, one that had proven time and again that while attachments in a death game could be a fearful thing, they weren’t necessarily _dangerous_.  Haze-kun didn’t agree, shunning everyone as much as possible other than Kirito and Arion.

Kirito understood it but at the same time wondered at what made _him_ so different that Haze-kun had been willing to partner with him from the first rather than allow them each to go it alone.

He’d never asked.

Not for fear of the answer, no.

But from a feeling that he wasn’t ready – yet – to hear it.

To know what made _him_ and _him alone_ different in Haze-kun’s eyes and worth the risk that attachment presented to the otherwise stone-cold Englishman.

Arion didn’t count.

As a pet, it was impossible for the war horse to pose the sort of risk to Haze-kun’s survival and worse, _emotions_ , that Kirito did.

Still he wondered.

But as of yet…hadn’t worked up the courage to _ask_.

An interesting thing…as never once did Kirito doubt that Haze-kun would answer.

But only if Kirito ever _asked_ , Haze-kun rarely if ever volunteering information, which made the few times he _had_ done so, such as with his status as a former child-soldier followed with his real first-name that much more meaningful to Kirito.

After accepting the drops from their mini-killing-spree to save the other group, Harry with Arion at his side joined Kirito as they went over to check on the shell-shocked party that after a quick head count Harry noted was made up of five members of varying looks and age, including a female, but all were teenagers.

Probably high schoolers, with three of them definitely younger than the other two.

Harry was able – sort of – to keep up with the rapid-speed Japanese that followed between Kirito and who’d stepped forward to talk to them, the oldest boy if Harry had to guess and probably the party leader.  From what he gathered (mostly about every third word) they were a mid-level guild and wanted to thank Harry and Kirito with a round of drinks at an inn they’d made their temporary headquarters.  When Kirito turned to Harry who arched a brow in question and repeated the conversation in English, he was happy to note that while some of the nuances of the conversation had likely been lost, _he_ hadn’t been, as Kirito repeated the other teen’s invitation to meet up at a tavern in  <Taft> on the 11th Floor.

The other teens looked a little abashed at having assumed that Harry was also from Nippon, especially given that he had distinctly European features compared to Kirito, but Harry waved off the apology and accepted the invitation on both of their behalf after a glance at Kirito who seemed open to the idea.

“Meet you there.”  Harry told them in his coming-along Japanese.  “Soon.”

He preferred, one of his paranoid hang-ups that he couldn’t shake, to take his own teleport crystal whenever possible.

Though the closest that he had to Taft left them off at the 9th Floor <Dark Elf Queen’s Castle> but with Arion to carry them they still made it to Taft in a handful of hours, more than enough time for the guild to rest and recover.

“They didn’t seem scared of us.”  Kirito noted, used to getting a mixture of fear and awe from the lower-level and mid-level players.

Really, outside of the Clearers, that was how _everyone_ treated them anymore when they were together as they weren’t exactly inconspicuous running around with Arion.

“No, they didn’t.”  Harry agreed.  “Pretty cheerful bunch outside of the shaking-in-her-boots spear-user.  Even the forward that was torn up had a smile on his face.”

“Haze-kun.”  Kirito scolded him mildly over the less-than-kind observation of the female player.  Though at least it hadn’t been profanity laden, something Harry had slowly cut down on when he realized how much it bothered Kirito.

“Tell me I’m wrong.”

“You’re not _wrong_ …”

“Then?”

“You’re being harsh to the timid players again.”  Kirito told him, even as he reached out to gently clasp his shoulder in one hand as they walked through Taft towards the ale-house the guild leader, Keita, had pinged for them.

“At least I’m not being harsh _to her face_ this time.”  Harry pointed out with an eye-roll for Kirito’s soft-heart.  Being afraid of death did nothing but make someone afraid to _live_ as far as he was concerned, something he’d pointed out more than once to certain players.

Caring only about survival could swing towards two extremes: Asuna’s devil-may-care attitude where it didn’t seem to matter if she lived or died, or the opposite like Ms. Timid: being so afraid of death that you cowered at the thought of leaving your front door.

Ms. Timid wasn’t _quite_ there – yet – but if someone didn’t pull her head out that was the way she was going to go, making her a burden on her friends and guild-mates alike, something nobody could afford above the first floor.

“Try to be nice?”  Kirito asked with a sigh, not wanting to get into one of Harry’s rants about _living_ again.  Even though Kirito agreed with him, that didn’t stop Harry sometimes when he built up a head of steam.  “For me?”

“For you.”  Harry agreed with a sigh, reaching up to squeeze the hand resting on his shoulder.  “But if she says something stupid…”

Kirito held up both his hands in a timeless gesture of surrender.

“Trying is all I ask.”  He said firmly.  “I don’t expect you to act like anyone else but you, Haze-kun.  Not ever.”

“Thanks, Kirito-kun.”  Harry’s eyes softened as he grinned down at the shorter teen.  “That means a lot to me.”  He had no _idea_ just how much…

“You’re my best-friend, Harry.”  Kirito whispered, resting his head on Haze-kun’s shoulder for a split second as he whispered.  “Why would I want you to be anyone else than yourself?”

Then Kirito was upright and standing strong, striding into the ale-house while Harry looped Arion’s reins around a nearby post and then following after his friend, but not before equipping Arion with a bucket of water and some <Oats> from the war horse’s saddle-bags.

…

“Ah, Kirito-san, Haze-san!”  Keita saw them first and waved from the wide table that had the small guild filling its benches except for the near-bench facing Keita, which had presumably been left free for the pair.  “Over here!”

Smiling up at Haze-kun, Kirito tilted his head towards the table and grabbed his anti-social friend’s arm to tow him over, not taking the even odds that Haze-kun would divert for the bar instead of ever making it to joining their hosts.

Haze-kun could be a cranky-ass that way, as he’d ducked out on meeting up with Asuna that way more than once, though notably he never did the same to Agil, which Kirito put down to Haze liking Agil’s calm personality and attitude more than Asuna’s tendency towards recklessness – and not _just_ with her own life the way Haze-kun could be when left on his own.

There were dark things in Haze-kun’s eyes sometimes.

Things that went with the unspoken truth of what it had been like – what it had done to his friend – to be a child-soldier who woke from deep sleeps panting and gasping in the night or who would flinch or even attack if approached wrong or while he was – rarely – not paying attention.

Those dark things were why Kirito never stayed gone too long if he could help it with his own solo playing or helping Asuna or Agil out with a quest.

Arion was good company for the emerald-eyed man, but he couldn’t talk to Haze-kun about good things or silly things or even nothing at all to draw him from a dark mood that would lead to him doing something utterly idiotic…like taking on a field boss with only his horse for back up.

And yes.

Kirito was _still_ upset about that.

He didn’t think he would ever _not_ be upset about it, as it had shown him clearly the casual disregard Haze-kun had for his own life…or perhaps that he was damaged to the point that he didn’t – or couldn’t – understand the value it had.

Kirito tried to _show_ him since rather than trying to talk sense into his stubborn friend.

Tried to make him _see_ how losing Harry would hurt Kazuto.

He wasn’t certain if it had sunk in, not even months later.

Still, he kept trying.

That was all he _could_ do after all: try.

 


	5. Interlude

** Hazing Online **

**Interlude 1: London**

_Number 12 Grimmauld Place, November 7, 2022, 0800_

Sirius snapped awake at the sound-feel of a knock on his wards over the Black Townhouse.

Once, he’d hated it here.

But in the wake of the Battle of Mysteries, where his pup had finally defeated Voldy-Shorts for the last and final time and Sirius himself had both nearly died and been _finally_ exonerated, the townhouse had become home.

Not just for him, but for his pup and mate as well, Harry and Remus right there with him with sledges and wands to help turn the downtrodden old house that his paranoid grandfather had locked down tighter than a drum during the Grindlewald era – including moving the main “residence” of the Blacks from their manor in Wiltshire to the townhouse – into a livable _home_.

Harry, between the years of misuse by the Headmaster and his early years, had _needed_ a home.

A place to rest and just _be_ while trying to sort out all the mess and gunk in his head, a process Sirius was all too familiar with himself.

The muggle-style “entertainment” room had been a joint venture between Sirius and Harry’s mind healer, muggle games and entertainment being just one of countless normal parts of a childhood that Harry’s unlamented blood-relatives had withheld from him.

Harry’s eye had lit up at the very idea of filling it with a television and game consoles, a computer, and more that Sirius barely followed the descriptions of but had nodded along and shelled out his revered “Black” Gringotts card for, being one of perhaps a dozen magical persons in the wizarding world to have the vaunted “black” card as one of the goblins’ wealthiest clients.

It apparently corresponded to a similar by-invitation-only credit card in the muggle world judging by the expression on the salesperson’s face when he’d tossed it down on the cash wrap.

Sirius couldn’t lie – he liked the effect the very sight of the card had on magical and muggle salespeople alike.

After a life lived under contempt from one source or another, it felt _good_ to be respected and revered, even if only for his family’s wealth, wealth that he would one day leave to Harry, though James and Lily had turned out to be savvy investors themselves, making his godson nearly as wealthy as Sirius was if not more-so as they’d jumped on the muggle tech craze much sooner than any other magical family thanks to Lily’s ties to the muggle world.

She had seen what was happening, what was coming, and the Potters had benefited from it in a vast increase of wealth the like not seen since James’s grandfather Fleamont had created the Sleakeazy Hair Potion, though thankfully for the Potter wealth James’s father Charlus hadn’t sold out from the Stinchcombe Potion Company despite several inducements to do so by his peers in the Wizengamot who found a peer actively engaged in _trade_ distasteful.

Aunt Dorea’s husband had told the stuffy wankers to fuck right off, his grandson becoming one of the wealthiest young Lords at his inheritance a few months before at sixteen in the entire world in the as a result between Charlus’s tenacity in the magical holdings and his parents’ creativity in their branching out into muggle investments like the Nippon-based company _Argus_ which had created both the NerveGear and Sword Art Online.

Sirius, on Harry and Hermione’s recommendation, had invested in Argus as well, giving orders similar to Harry’s standing arrangement with his own goblin investment manager to snap up whatever shares came onto the market.

An excellent idea, though Sirius had no idea – as yet – just how important said idea would become.

But he was about to find out.

“Masters.”  Harry’s favorite house elf, who’d been ecstatic at being bound to Harry on his recent birthday, named Dobby popped into the master suite.  “There is being Aurors and Healers at the door, Master Black and Master Moony, sirs.”

Groaning, Sirius turned over and sat up, already scrubbing his hands over his face as Remus let out a curse and fumbled for his wand before snapping quick cleaning and hygiene charms at them both, then summoned slippers and basic robes from the closet.

“Aurors and Healers.”  Sirius muttered, silver eyes dark with worry.  “That’s not good.”

“Don’t panic, love.”  Remus, ever the clearer head even as his own worry showed in the gold lining his amber eyes.  “Whatever it is, we’ll manage.”

They always do.

…

 _“What?!”_   The pair of werewolf alpha and Black Lord shouted in unison at the unfortunate fuckers given the task of reporting their godson’s – and heir’s – current status.

Said status being trapped in a death game that not _one fucking soul_ in the world knew how to free him or the other – currently following actual _deaths_ – estimated nine thousand seven-hundred souls that remained linked to the VRMMORPG.

“Please, please calm down.”  Tonks, one of said-unfortunate-fuckers who’d been chosen for her friendship with her cousin and his mate, held out her hands and gestured for the pair to sit down before they could dart upstairs to the game room and do something… _rash_.  “And let Kings finish.”

Kingsley, the new head Auror in the wake of Madam Bones’s elevation to Minister of Magic after Fudge was unceremoniously kicked to the curb after the DoM fiasco, and his own boss Scrimgeour taking up the headship of the DMLE, took a breath and tried to explain as best he could, he and Dora having had this same conversation or a version of it with only a handful of other magical family members or friends of the trapped souls this morning.

They knew more about the muggle world for one.

And they had the power to _restrain_ said friends and family members and to carryout whatever action was needed to protect the trapped souls under their orders from the Minister herself.

That Harry Potter was one of the trapped souls was something everyone cognizant of the issued desperately wanted kept under-wraps lest the wizarding world – at least in Western Europe – riot.

Nippon was already dealing with riots enough outside their government buildings and the Argus headquarters, they _did not_ need them spilling over here, especially as Wizarding Great Britain was still dealing with the aftermath of Voldemort’s short return but bloody return.

“Our pup is _fucking trapped!”_ Sirius snarled, looking every inch the irate Grim that he was inside.  “Don’t you fucking _tell me to calm down, cousin!”_

“Pads.”  Remus sucked in a breath and grit his teeth, shoving his worry and rage and fear down and away.  He’d lose his head later.  Right now, one of them needed to be calm and as ever it wasn’t going to be his hot-headed lover and mate.  Sirius could – and would – make it up to him later when Moony needed to blow off steam.  “Let them talk.  We need to know everything before we start tackling the situation.”

“Thank you, Remus.”  Kingsley nodded his bald head, golden earring glinting in the candlelight provided by the sitting room candelabra.  “Yes, Mr. Potter is trapped.  The creator and designer of the, ah, _NerveGear_ technology and the game itself apparently has a god-complex the like of which Voldemort could only _aspire_ to.  He manipulated the game controls: keeping the players trapped, taking away their ability to, ah,” he frowned, still not certain of the game mechanics involved.  “Resurrect in-game and to log out.”

“What about the NerveGear device itself.”  Sirius was visibly straining to put his canny fighter’s brain to the problem instead of losing himself to rage.  “Can it be turned off somehow?”

“No.”  Tonks bit her lip.  “People tried that in a panic when their trapped ones wouldn’t wake up or in the wake of the announcement from this _Kayaba Akihiko_.”

“From what we understand from the representatives of Argus.”  Kingsley took over, knowing that it was hard for Tonks to speak of – especially with Harry trapped.  “There is a safety in the NerveGear that is supposed to protect the wearer from a lethal reaction from the headset.  Kayaba turned off the safety and set the thing to kill anyone who has their headset tampered with.”

“Merlin.”  Remus gasped out, one hand reaching out and curling around Siri’s as the Black Lord’s expression shattered, tears filling his eyes.  “What, what about their bodies?”  He asked in desperation.  “Surely this Kayaba _knows_ that they can’t survive?”

Tonks and Kingsley traded a look.

“He knew.”  Kingsley admitted.  “He’s there…with them in the game.”

“What?”  Sirius hissed, hand clamping down in instant reaction to _that_ news.  “My pup is not only _fucking trapped_ but he’s trapped _with_ the psycho who did _this_ to him?”

“Yes.”  Kingsley answered firmly.  “A piece of information that _understandably_ isn’t being shared outside a few trusted individuals.  As far as the bodies of the trapped souls, a force has been mobilized to _carefully_ transfer each trapped player to a hospital where their bodies can be cared for without interrupting the NerveGear connection.”

“That’s why we have Healers cooling their heels in the locked-down dining room.”  Tonks added.

“No.”  Sirius denied that course of action immediately – as from the smirks on both Kingsley and Tonks’s faces they’d known he was going to do.  “We can’t entrust Harry to anywhere even a _bit_ public.”

Not with Death Eaters still hidden and needing taken care of, let alone the supporters who weren’t marked, or countless others who would jump at the chance to… _erase_ a threat as great as Harry Potter posed to the status quo.

“We can hire a private healer to take care of him.”  Remus agreed, eyes thoughtful as he gave a comforting squeeze to his love’s hand.  “Andy would be best.”

Tonks grinned at the compliment to her mum, nodding.

“She’d take the job in a heartbeat.”  Tonks agreed then gave a devious smirk.  “Might even be able to correct some of those lingering health issues that Captain Stubborn Pants upstairs refused to have looked at.”

Sirius and Remus shared a bemused smile at that.

It wasn’t like she was wrong after all.

And anything they would do _here_ to strengthen their pup could only help Harry…wherever he was.

“Is…”  Remus closed his eyes and shook his head, then finished his thought.  “Is there a way for them to win free of this trap?”

Sirius echoed the question with a nod in like-mindedness with his mate.

If there was…then their pup would find it, even as they wished against all odds that he hadn’t been trapped in the first place.

“From the announcement from Kayaba sent out when the game locked-down,” Kingsley supplied.  “Yes.”

“What do they have to do?”

“Beat the game.”  Kingsley grimaced.  “And never die in the process.”

…

“How is he, Andy?”  Sirius asked his cousin and professional Healer as the tall witch – who bore a startling resemblance to her once-again-incarcerated sister Bellatrix…but sane – lowered her wand after casting a series of diagnostics.

After, of course, convincing Dobby that no, his Master Harry Potter Sir wasn’t going to be harmed or moved, and that the Mistress Healer Tonks Ma’am was there to help keep him healthy.

“A bit peckish and in need of fluids as well as a few, ahem,” Andromeda Tonks neé Black coughed.  “Personal care spells but other than that…” she sighed.  “I truly wish you had convinced him to see a healer earlier, cousin.”

“How bad?”  Remus asked, folding Pads into his arms as Sirius gave a worried grumble.

“Rampant malnutrition that goes back far into his childhood.”  Andromeda reported to her newest patient’s guardians per Sirius’s exoneration and reclamation of his rights.  “Broken bones that were never set correctly or at all, Cruiciatus damage that went untreated that’s over a year old, exposure to a dark artifact leaving scarring on his right hand, and more.”  She sighed, shaking her head.  “Not all of which can be corrected.”

“The bones at least.”  Sirius knew from experience, voice straining as he held his human form rather than slipping into the simpler – and easier to function – form of Padfoot.  “Those can be vanished and regrown.”

“Yes, that can be done.”  Andromeda nodded.  “As well as some of his long-standing malnutrition corrected, his vision problems, and so on.  With proper maintenance spells while he is in what for all intents-and-purposes is a coma…”  Not that she _liked_ the circumstances by any measure, nor even agreed with that being the best designation for his current status, but it was close enough and gave Sirius as Harry’s guardian the leeway to make decisions on his behalf, including hiring her to look after him while he slept.  “He could very well wake in better condition than when he _logged-in_ to this game.”

“How much of the maintenance spells can be done by a house-elf?”  Remus asked with patent practicality.  Even the most devoted healer couldn’t look after Harry 24/7, neither could he or Sirius for all that they might like to.  And with Harry in such a vulnerable state, they needed to limit access to him as much as possible.

“With the proper training and potions on hand, ninety percent after the initial healing.”  Andromeda reported, already snapping out a few spells to deal with Harry’s current state: spelling in food, water, and nutrition potions into his stomach with a healer’s efficacy then taking care of the boy’s bodily needs with targeted healing-class vanishing spells.  “For the first week he’ll need constant observation by myself or another witch or wizard for side-effects from his healing and the potions he’ll need to be on while he’s in this state.”

“Whatever you need, Andy.”  Sirius vowed, face grim.

“Dobby is the best choice for Harry’s caregiver elf.”  Remus said thoughtfully.  “We’ll hire another elf for the house and keeping Kreacher in check, plus a second caregiver-trained elf to help Dobby even if the closest we can come to the proper training from the placement agency is a nanny elf.”

“I’ll send the owl.”  Sirius agreed, squaring his shoulders and stepping out of Remus’s caring arms, heading for his office.

“Wait, cousin.”  Andromeda commanded, flicking her wand to conjure a list.  “These are the potions Harry will need.”  She winced.  “I know you don’t like him…”

“But Snape is the best.”  Sirius finished with a grimace of distaste and a sigh.  “But for Harry, I’ll contract with him so long as you personally test each batch of potions he makes for tampering.”

“Siri.”  Remus scolded.  “Severus wouldn’t _poison_ Harry.”

“Maybe not.”  Sirius shrugged, unconcerned with his mate’s frustration over the long-standing feud.  “But it’s not a chance I’m willing to take.”

Not with Harry’s life.

Not ever.

…

_Gringotts London, December 29, 2022_

“Lord Black.”  The Black – and currently the Potter account manager with Sirius having control of Harry’s affairs whilst he was in his “coma” business manager Sharpfang greeted Sirius as he was ushered into the manager’s office.

“Sharpfang.”  Sirius gave a sharp jerk of his head in a vicious nod, his mood being less than his normal charming self due to Harry’s continued unconscious state.

Though it was heartening in one factor: of the approximately 2,000 trapped souls who had perished in the last month-plus, his pup wasn’t one of them.

He was surviving.

Under strain and danger at times as Andy could tell from his hormone fluctuations such as adrenaline levels caused by his body reacting to his brain signals but surviving nonetheless.

“What business requires my presence?”

“As you know, Lord Black.”  Sharpfang folded his clawed hands on the desk-blotter before him.  “Both yourself and Heir Potter gave orders that any available shares of certain companies should be purchased as they came available, including those of the company being held responsible for the current state of certain trapped souls, one Argus Inc. based out of Tokyo, Nippon.”

“I am aware.”

“In the wake of the…incident,” Sharpfang didn’t wince at the vicious glare in silver-eyes that shot his way…but it was close.  “Argus has been subject to heavy scrutiny and plummeting stock prices.”

“And?”

“You own it.”  Sharpfang didn’t beat around the bush any further.  “Or at least, yourself and Heir Potter combined own ninety percent of the active stock, with the remaining ten percent acquired by another Nippon-based company one RECT Inc., which you both also own stock in.  RECT Inc. has made overtures to purchase the remaining Argus stock and effectively take over the existing operations and servers from yourself and Heir Potter.”

“No.”  Sirius shot him down cold.  “Over my dead body, and likely not even then.  Those _servers_ ,” he drawled the muggle word.  “Contain the very _essence_ of my godson.  They will be maintained under my control until Harry wakes up.”  Sirius rose back to his feet.  “If that is all…?”

“I warned the RECT Inc. representative as such through our muggle liaisons.”  Sharpfang waved a hand.  “In such an event as now, they would like to propose a partnership and merger instead between you, giving you oversight and control over certain operations that are of most concern.”

“No.”  Sirius shrugged, giving his business manager an infuriating little smile.  “If Argus is defunct, have it folded under the Potter-Black Global umbrella.  Let’s see if our _own_ technology branch can make anything of the Argus data.  Buy the remaining ten percent from RECT Inc., even if we have to trade them share-for-share with their own stock.”

“As you wish, Lord Black.”

Harry’s _mind_ would _not_ remain in the hands of _anyone_ but him, so help him Circe.


End file.
